Brad Bird, director of such popular animated features as The Iron Giant, The Incredibles and Ratatouille, is reportedly thinking about going live action to direct Mission: Impossible IV.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Bird is one of several contenders that producers Tom Cruise and J.J. Abrams are considering to direct the film for Paramount. The studio is eyeing a May 27, 2011, release, meaning work on the film needs to start this summer.
Other directors reportedly in the mix are Edgar Wright Jr., whose next film is the comic-book adaptation Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, and Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer.
The film would again star Cruise as agent Ethan Hunt and be based on the classic 1960s television series.
India-based animation and games company DQ Entertainment officially listed its stock March 29 on the Indian capital markets, and posted surges in value as high as 75 percent its first day of trading.
The shares were initially offered at the price of 80 rupees (about $1.78 U.S.) and closed at 112.25 rupees (about $2.50 U.S.), an increase of about 40 percent.
The company raised about $34 million from its initial public offering and will use the funds to develop production ventures and invest in overseas joint ventures.
DQ has produced or co-produced animated projects featuring such iconic brands as Iron Man, Casper and Little Prince. Its current projects include a new animated series based on The Jungle Book, as well as visual effects and video game work.
Hallmark’s popular online e-card characters Hoops and Yoyo will be starring in their own cable holiday movie this year. Variety reports that Hallmark Channel is developing a new animated movie featuring the cute, Helium-voiced pink and green duo as part of its effort to beef up its original programming fare.
The property was created by Hallmark artists Bob Holt and Mike Adair. Adair initially came up with the two characters when he was challenged to meet a 4th of July e-card animation for Hallmark several years ago, using only a firecracker. Up against a tight deadline, Holt started using a little green bunny he had previously created at home. He then transformed the bunny into a pink cat named hoops. Hoops eventually needed a pal and the original green bunny came back to life as yoyo.
What started as a single e-card created by Bob has now expanded to include everything from party supplies and gifts, to books and music. Almost 14 million hoops&yoyo e-cards and 200 online animations are sent annually, and their website receives over 3 million annual visits. Each Tuesday, the two Kansas City, Missouri-based artists pair up in a recording studio and record fresh audio without the help of a script (these sessions are performed in a stand-up, comedy act-like way) and come up with improvised material that’s eventually used in hoops&yoyo e-cards, their website, etc. For more info, visit www.hoopsandyoyo.com
Aardman Animations Helps Launch Animation Academy in South Africa
The Guardian is reporting that the United Kingdom's Aardman Animations have helped launch South Africa's first animation academy at Khayelitsha township on the outskirts of Cape Town. The studio is aimed at training more animators for South Africa's home-grown animation industry (which failed to create a home-grown animated series last year) and address what Aardman perceives as "a worldwide shortage of animators," while also combating mass unemployment and rising crime in Khayelitsha and setting up a training center that does not require the tuition fees and transportation costs that prevent many non-white South Africans from attending film schools.
New Hampshire State Legislator Apologizes for Anime "Two Nukes" Comment
New Hampshire state representative Nick Levasseur (D) has issued an apology for a comment to Facebook where he stated, "anime is a prime example of why two nukes just wasn’t enough..." In a statement to Otaku Review and several other media outlets, Levasseur stated:
I would like to deeply apologize for the insensitivity of this post. It was a poorly thought out comment, posted jest on my private facebook page. It was never intended to be viewed by anyone other than friends. This, of course, does not excuse the comment. This type of statement has no place in public or private discourse. It does not represent any true opinion, political or personal. My record in the New Hampshire House shows a commitment to equality and social justice. It is a record of which I am most proud. This comment is a disappointment not only to the people of New Hampshire, whom it has been my privilege to serve, but also to my own beliefs and moral code.
Orson Welles to Narrate CG/Live-Action Hybrid Movie Posthumously
A recently discovered vocal narration track recorded by the late Orson Welles will be used as the basis for Christmas Tails, a 3-D live-action/CGI animated movie being produced by Drac Studios (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), according to a report in the Hollywood Reporter. Welles, who passed away in 1985, recorded the track as a favor to a friend, Christmas Tails author Robert X. Leed, but the tapes were kept at the author's home until Drac president Harvey Lowry tracked them down and restored them for use in the film. Plans are for a Christmas 2011 release.
Expanded Pixar Exhibition to Open at Oakland Museum of California in July 2010
Onion A.V. Club Interviews Don Hahn on "Waking Sleeping Beauty," More
The Onion A.V. Club has posted a lengthy interview with Don Hahn, longtime producer for Walt Disney Studios (Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King), about his new documentary movie Waking Sleeping Beauty, which documents the period from 1984-1994 at the Walt Disney Feature Animation studios. Among the many topics discussed in the interview are how Hahn selected (and excluded) interview subjects from the movie, how the journalist Patrick Pacheco contributed to and shaped the movie, the surprises in the history and the opinions that were uncovered during production, his views on animation and filmmaking, and his upcoming projects like producing the stop-motion Tim Burton film Frankenweenie and his next documentary film Hand Held.
Vintage German ad for Felina lingerie
The animation isn’t so good, but the imagery - not to mention the live action ladies in their under garments - make this vintage German theatrical commercial well worth watching.
Adnan Hussain’s short film Gul (Flower) draws the viewer in with its striking impressionistic CG imagery, but keeps the viewer engaged with its storytelling, which carries a clear and powerful message even as it verges on obliqueness. A Quicktime version of the film can be found on Adnan’s website.
I asked Adnan via email if he could share some details about the production of Gul. Here is what he wrote:
I’m a Los Angeles-based Pakistani-American artist working primarily in animation and live action vfx. Gul (Flower), an interpretive piece meant for the viewer to connect their own experiences, is my first short film. It is the culmination of personal art and skills learned as a technical director at Walt Disney Feature Animation, Sony Pictures Imageworks and other studios. It was created in a stack of sketchbooks, 3D Studio Max, Photoshop, Painter, Digital Fusion and Premiere. I studied non-photorealistic rendering papers and works by Egon Schiele, Bill Sienkiewicz and Kent Williams besides doing a ton of my own paintings to create the raw painted look of the film. Scripts were developed to repaint rendered frames layer by layer with custom settings to create the painted look efficiently.
By the end of 2007, I had built enough models, animation and pipeline to quit my job and finish it. I worked on the film, then back packed through Central Asia before finding my way to Jamshoro, Sindh, Pakistan to record the score of a yet to be colored version of the film. Thanks to incredible Sindhi Folk musicians lead by Ustad Anb Jogi on Dholak, Jairam Jogi and Nasir Jogi on Murli, Mohammed Buksh on Pakistani Banjo, Ibrahim Jogi on Tali and LA-based Brian Stroner on sound design, the film was completed in May 2009.
So far it has screened at Slamdance, Patios Human Rights, Mill Valley, Anim’Est, Maelstrom and Montezuma Film Festivals as well as winning Canada Film Festival’s Rising Star Award of Excellence and the Accolade Award of Merit.
Hussain tells me that he is currently in pre-production on his next short and is looking for freelance opportunities around the globe.
As was predicted last week, DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon didn’t light the box office on fire. While it took the weekend with $43 million, that is many bags of gold short of the $59 million Monsters vs. Aliens transported back to headquarters last year. I suspect the film will have sustaining power though, as it’s scored so well with critics. Did you see the films’ director/writers, Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, in this HP ad? The funny-man opposite them is Rhys Darby.
Ben studied animation under former Disney animator Milt Neil at the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art. He has been in the animation industry since 1984. He started doing animation for small commercials, then years later moved on to J.J. Sedelmaier Productions working on the "Cluckin' Chicken" parody for Saturday Night Live, which led to MTV, where he worked on "Beavis and Butt-Head", doing storyboard revisions, character and prop design, layout. animation on the hallucination sequence on the feature "Beavis and Butt-head Do "America" and also MTV's "The Maxx", doing character layout. As a freelancer, he's worked for various companies including Disney TV, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, HBO Family, Miramax, Warner Bros., Saatchi and Saatchi, General Mills and Comedy Central. Currently, he's still doing the freelancing thing, while developing some personal projects for pitching.
Brad Bird, director of such popular animated features as The Iron Giant, The Incredibles and Ratatouille, is reportedly thinking about going live action to direct Mission: Impossible IV.
India-based animation and games company DQ Entertainment officially listed its stock March 29 on the Indian capital markets, and posted surges in value as high as 75 percent its first day of trading.
Hallmark’s popular online e-card characters Hoops and Yoyo will be starring in their own cable holiday movie this year. Variety reports that Hallmark Channel is developing a new animated movie featuring the cute, Helium-voiced pink and green duo as part of its effort to beef up its original programming fare.
As was predicted last week, DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon didn’t light the box office on fire. While it took the weekend with $43 million, that is many bags of gold short of the $59 million Monsters vs. Aliens transported back to headquarters last year. I suspect the film will have sustaining power though, as it’s scored so well with critics. Did you see the films’ director/writers, Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, in this HP ad? The funny-man opposite them is Rhys Darby.
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