ComingSoon.net has the trailer for the upcoming animated film Dante’s Inferno. To be released on DVD and Blu-ray in February 2010, the film is an offshoot of the video game of the same name, also coming early next year.
Ralph Interview
Jason Anders continues to interview cult directors, hot starlets and distinctive animators. He’s just posted a conversation with Ralph Bakshi on his Fulle Circle Blog — and whatever Ralph has to say is always worth a read.
(Thanks cartoon brew)
Vote for "Tickle Me Silly" in Nickelodeon's Animation Festival!!!
Miguel Martinez-Joffre, director at World Leaders Entertainment, has had his short film "Tickle Me Silly", NYTVF 2008 winner for "Best Animated Pilot", selected as a finalist for the 2009 Nickelodeon Film Festival -
Here's the skinny from Miguel himself:
Tickle Me Silly on NICKELODEON!
Most Awesomest News Ever!
My film, “Tickle Me Silly”, was selected as a finalist for the 2009 Nickelodeon Film Festival and will air on Nickelodeon on Wed. Nov 18, at 4:38 pm. Don’t miss it!
But wait! There’s more! Now I need your help. PLEASE GO AND VOTE for my film for the Viewers Choice Award. Tell your friends, family, kids, mailmen, and your cat to spread the love and vote for my film. In return, I’ll personally hug you, kiss you and/or give you a kick in the shins… I’ll even let you choose.
Please help an Amigo out and vote, thanks so much!
Miguel
Go HERE to vote!!
Good luck Miguel!
Upcoming in North America
Evangelion 1.01 Movie -The First 8 Minutes
Upcoming in Japan
Promos
Gintama: Shinyaku Benizakura-He (Gintama: Benizakura Arc — A New Retelling)
Kara no Kyoukai (Garden of Sinners) - movie 7
Yona Yona Penguin (Rintaro of X and Metropolis fame's CG, 3D children's movie)
Bungaku Shoujo (Literary Girl) - Production I.G's upcoming movie
Fumihiko Sori's To
Higanjima - live action based on Koji Matsumoto's manga
Ogon Yusha Goldran - 1995 mecha anime getting a DVD box set
Darker than BLACK - Kuro no Keiyakusha side story
Gundam 00 movie
Kamen Rider Decade & Double: Movie Taisen 2010
Assault Girls images and info
more Yamato: Rebirth trailers
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (new live action) teaser
Anime
Madhouse's 12 episode Iron Man and Wolverine anime will hit Japan in mid-2010, with Iron Man on Animax in the second quarter and Wolverine in the third quarter. A US release is planned for 2011.
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The DVD release of CLAMP's Kobato will feature an original Flash animated short
Manga
Kodansha has confirmed that it will launch two new manga based on the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex television anime series in December.
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Tachikoma na Hibi, will launch in the January issue of Kodansha's Monthly Young Magazine on December 9. The Masayuki Yamamoto work is based on the comedy shorts starring Stand Alone Complex's Tachikoma AI tanks.
Yu Kinutani's, the creator of the Amon and Shion manga and the artist of the Steamboy, Leviathan, and Pairon Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex manga, will launch in the 2009.02 issue of Kodansha's Weekly Young Magazine on December 14.
Going Hollywood
Anime Vice spoke to Cowboy Bebop producer Joshua Long, who announced that he is heading the newly rename company 1212 Entertainment, which will focus primarily on adapting popular anime, manga, and game titles from Japan, as well as some prominent French comics. While Cowboy Bebop will remain a production under 3 Arts Entertainment, Long tells me we'll be hearing some news in the near future: "we'll have a lot to announce soon,"
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The NY Post spoke to Kevin Williamson about Scream 4.
Subjects to be spoofed
"I've [included] manga comics, Asian ghost girl movies, there's some PG-13 horror movies in there, vampire movies, M. Night Shyamalan movies and torture porn movies, even though they've come and gone."...
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Quiet Earth spoke to Voltron producer Jeremy Corray
Jeremy, news dropped a few months ago that new producers came onboard for the live-action adaptation. Can you tell us about that?
Yeah. We are thrilled to be working with Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Steve Alexander, Jake Kurily and the rest of the new Voltron Force at Atlas Entertainment and, of course, our old friend Jason Netter at Kickstart Entertainment to bring Voltron to the screen. If you were to put together a dream producing team for a project as big and with so much franchise potential as Voltron, this is it. From 12 Monkeys to The Dark Knight and Jason's work on Wanted, I mean c'mon, these guys set the standard for genre cinema then blow it apart with the next release. Voltron is going to be a challenge, but should really push boundaries both in special FX and more importantly in the story department.
Does this mean that the project is being completely rebooted?
Things are early right now, but it is safe to say we have heard and read some really fresh approaches to the material. So yeah, we have pressed the reset switch on the front of the old NES.
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According to Latino Review, the Steven Spielberg and Will Smith adaptation of the Old Boy manga is no longer happening. "Mandate and DreamWorks didn’t see eye to eye therefore DreamWorks has apparently walked away."
The Business
Following their cancellation of the Japanese DVD releases of volumes seven and later of Shangri-la, Gonzo has announced that they will cease all telephone customer support for their DVD releases starting from December 2009.
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Time Cartoon Network's move away from animation
Posh joining Madagascar cast?
Victoria Beckham may be joining the cast of DreamWorks’ Madagascar 3, according to Aceshowbiz. The film hits theatres on May 25, 2012.
Pooh in court again
The BBC reports that the Slesinger family is taking Disney back to court again over Winnie-the-Pooh. In a case just a few moths ago the judge ruled the Slesinger’s can not claim claim infringement since they transferred all of their rights to Pooh to Disney (who must still pay royalties). The family now says they may revoke Disney’s license since the Mouse House is, once again they claim, cooking the books on how much they are owed. A Disney spokesman called the move “baffling”.
Marvel Makes D’Esposito Co-President
Marvel Studios has promoted Louis D’Esposito to the post of co-president.D’Esposito moves up from the post of president of physical production, where he oversaw budgets and timelines for the studio’s in-house productions. He was an executive producer on Iron Man and the upcoming Iron Man 2.
He will work along side the studio’s current film president, Kevin Feige. Both will report to CEO Ike Perlmutter.
Feige called D'Esposito "an incredible friend and collaborator, and his expertise within the film industry steering the budgetary and operational demands of moviemaking is instrumental in taking our characters from the pages of comic books to the big screen."
(Thanks Animation Magazine)
Duckling Short Wins BAFTA Scotland Honor
The animated short The Happy Duckling won the Best Animation Award from BAFTA Scotland.The nine-minute short about a reluctant boy who is followed by a happy duck, was written and directed by Gili Dolev and features a score by Mick Cooke of the musical act Belle and Sebastian.
The film also has won the Pulcinella Award for Best Short Film at Cartoons on the Bay and the Best Children’s Animation Award at the Stuttgart International Animation Festival.
(Thanks Animation Magazine)
Boomerang to Revisit Classic Thanksgiving
Cartoon Network’s sister channel Boomerang will air commercial free on Thanksgiving the classic Hanna-Barbera animated special The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn’t.The 30-minute special premiered on Thanksgiving Day in 1972 and featured the voices of June Foray and Don Messick. The special tells the tale of Jeremy Squirrel, who has to find and save a missing Pilgrim boy and a missing native boy to ensure the first Thanksgiving feast can proceed.
The special will air twice on Boomerang, first at 10 a.m. ET and again at 7 p.m. ET.
"Animated holiday specials such as The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn't bring back a lot of childhood memories," said Stacy Isenhower, senior vice president of programming and scheduling for Boomerang and Cartoon Network. "We know that our viewers, both young and old, will feel the spirit of the holiday with this cartoon classic-it reminds us again that there is always a reason to be thankful."
(Thanks Animation Magazine)
"The Equalizer" star Edward Woodward dies at 79
British actor Edward Woodward, winner of the 1987 Golden Globe best actor award for his role as ex-secret agent Robert McCall in the American TV series The Equalizer, died Monday at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro, England. He was 79.Woodward had been suffering from several illnesses, including pneumonia, for several months, agent Janet Glass said in a statement.
"Universally loved and admired through his unforgettable roles... he was equally fine and courageous in real life, never losing his brave spirit and wonderful humour throughout his illness," she said. "He was further sustained by the love of his wife, Michele, children, Tim, Peter, Sarah and Emily, his grandchildren and numerous friends. His passing will leave a huge gap in many lives."
Woodward voiced The Sultan in Aladdin, a 1992 direct-to-video animated feature from Bevanfield Films.
The Equalizer ran for 88 episodes on CBS in the late 1980s. Every year from 1986 until 1990, he was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in connection with his role on the show.
In 1980, he shared a News and Documentary Emmy Award for "Hitler, Man and Myth," an episode of Remembering World War II. The Emmy was in the "Outstanding Informational, Cultural or Historic Programming - Segments" category.
He played the title role in 1980's Breaker Morant, an Australian biographical movie set about the murder trial of a lieutenant serving in the Second Boer War.
Woodward portrayed rebellious British secret agent David Callan in the 1967-72 TV spy series Callan. It was his major breakthrough into TV and movie acting.
He starred opposite Christopher Lee and Britt Ekland as Scottish police sergeant Neil Howie in the 1973 cult thriller movie The Wicker Man, a tale of his search for a missing girl on an isolated island. The movie was famous for its final scene in which Howie is burned alive.
Born Edward Albert Arthur Woodward in Croydon, south London on June 1, 1930, he attended Kingston College and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
He began his career as a Shakespearian stage actor, first appearing in 1947 at the Castle Theatre in Farnham. He worked in repertory companies throughout England and Scotland, first appearing on the London stage in 1955.
Woodward continued stage work in London over next four decades, occasionally appearing in New York as well. He appeared in numerous films and in over 2,000 TV productions.
He recorded 12 albums of music (vocals), three albums of poetry and 14 books on tape. In 1978, Woodward was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.
The recipient of the Television Actor of the Year in 1969 and 1970, he won the Sun Award for Best Actor in 1970, 1971 and 1972.
His last appearance on film was as Tom Weaver in the comedy movie Hot Fuzz. His final on-screen appearance was earlier this year in the popular British soap opera EastEnders.
Edward Woodward's first marriage, to Venetia Mary Collett in 1952, ended in divorce in 1986; he married English actress Michele Dotrice in 1987. He had children Sarah, Tim and Peter -- all of whom became actors -- with his first wife, and Emily with his second.
Home-Grown Toons Across the Seas
The reality of which we often lose sight is that the U.S. of A. is not the Alpha and Omega of the animated feature. There are any number of countries that created toonage for their home markets, work that seldom sees the light of a projection lamp on other continents.
France, Germany, India and others create local animation; the list is long. India, with a huge domestic film industry, is now working to break its product out of a regional straitjacket and expand it onto world markets:
... With changing global trends, Indian animation motion pictures are ready for a makeover. Taking cue from Hollywood’s animation movies on superheroes, Indian production companies are now growing out of mythological subjects to make films on larger-than-life superheroes of Indian cinema.
... “Animation films in India do not have a good market at present. They mainly rely on mythological characters, a niche market limiting the films largely to an Indian audience. In Hollywood, over 60 animated films have been made in 10 years and more are on the anvil” said the Vijay Paranjpe, Chief Financial Officer of Crest Animation Studios.
The revenue out of animation feature films, DVD licensing and TV licensing for movies is huge, which makes Hollywood the best destination for any animation film. For instance, US filmmaker gets, on an average, $ 300 million for an animated movie, as they are instant hit among the audience, he says.
Mr. Paranjpe -- whose studio long ago purchased Rich Animation in Burbank, California -- is just a tad optimistic regarding the financial power or American animated features. But he's on the money about foreign cartoons peforming weakly in the world film market.
Since World War I, American films have been major crowd-pleasers around the globe. I've never been entirely sure why this is, since there are certainly excellent foreign films that get made on a regular basis. Maybe it's our mongrel American culture, maybe it's economic muscle, or maybe it's plain old good luck. Whatever the reason, the long tentacles of Hollywood product reach everywhere, and the animated sub-set is no exception.
There's DreamWorks, there's Pixar, and the American cartoonist name Disney is known everywhere. Most foreign animation artists' fame -- with the possible exception of Miyazaki -- stops at their home-country's border.
Maybe this will change as we grope our way into the 21st century, or maybe not. Me, I think that India has major challenges in becoming a big-time player in the animation marketplace, but I'm not one to never say never.
(Thanks Animation Guild Blog)
Krause Produces Peace Piece for ICPFF
With a little help from Isam Prado, Fran Krause created this intro animation for the International College Peace Film Festival, which takes place in Seoul between November 26th and 29th.
South Park Goes Pee Pee at the Water Park
It is with great sadness that we announce that he season finale of South Park arrives this week. Pee premieres on Wednesday, November 18 at 10:00 p.m. on Comedy Central, and it follows the boys’ trip to the water park.
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