It’s a good weekend to be Tony Stark.Marvel Studio’s sequel Iron Man 2 enters the weekend with a number of already-impressive numbers on its tally: Not only is it the widest opening movie ever in terms of number of theaters, it’s also already tallied $121 million in a week of playing in overseas markets.
Box office watchers are taking bets on whether the film will top the record weekend domestic opening of The Dark Knight, which in 2008 took in $158 million its first three days of release.
Iron Man 2, which opens in an estimated 4,380 theaters, faces as its sole significant new competition this week the documentary Babies, opening at 534 theaters.
Iron Man 2 is directed by Jon Favreau and stars Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, Mickey Rourke as Whiplash, Don Cheadle as Rhodey, Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow and Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts.
Adapted from the Marvel Comics character created in 1963 by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Don Heck and Larry Lieber, the sequel has drawn mixed reviews from critics. Ain’t It Cool News’ head geek Harry Knowles hailed the film as “comic movie crack,” while Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times writes that “as sequels go, this one is acceptable, nothing more, nothing less.”
(Thanks Animation Magazine)
Comedy Central Sets Futurama Date, Development Slate
An animated version of Jesus, spoofs on superheroes and prison life, and the return of old favorite Futurama are part of Comedy Central’s just announced development slate.Announced by Kent Alterman, the network’s head of original programming and production, new episodes of Futurama are set to begin airing on June 24. Created by Matt Groening and David X. Cohen, the former Fox series gets a new lease on life with 12 new episodes featuring the original voice cast and animation from Rough Draft Studios.
The network also announced several other animated series in the script/paper development stage. The network described in a release those series as follows:
• JC: A half-hour animated show about JC (Jesus Christ) wanting to escape his father's enormous shadow and live life in NYC as a regular guy. A lot has changed in 2000 years and he is the ultimate fish out of water. Meanwhile his all-powerful yet apathetic father would rather be playing video games than listening to JC recount his life in the city. JC is a playful take on religion and society with a sprinkle of dumb. Executive produced by Reveille (The Office), Henrik Basin, Brian Boyle (American Dad), Jonathan Sjoberg and Andreas Ohman.
• Joe Squad: In the vein of classic Saturday morning superhero cartoons like G.I. Joe and Jonny Quest, the Joe Squad is the most elite fighting squad hell-bent on saving the world. Led by sex-obsessed Captain Falcon, the team consists of Auburn, the stunning, red-headed sexy-librarian-type; Berserker, the heavyset mustached goof; Big Jersey, the chiseled overly-tanned douchebag; Butchley, the freakishly Schwarzeneggerian female; Brick House, the insanely jacked African-American Muslim; Dutch, the clean-cut All-American good guy; and Lone Wolf, the masked and mysterious mute ninja. When these guys are not trying to save the world, they're getting in each other's way and on each other's nerves. Fortunately for Joe Squad, their nemesis Master Snake and his team of Rattlers are just as inept. This animated action-comedy comes from writer Blake McCormick (King of the Hill) and executive producer Marty Adelstein (Made of Honor).
• Supermax: Supermax is an animated series where the well-known inmates (Robert Hanssen, Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, Ted Kaczinski, Omar Abdel-Rahman, Richard Reid, John Walker-Lindh) of a real super maximum security prison in Colorado learn to live and love. From Emmy Award-winning comedy writer Lew Morton (Undeclared, Newsradio, Futurama), comedy gets a life sentence in this "arresting" show, where the only crime is not to laugh.
• The Fuzz: A police procedural cop series set in a corrupt city where humans and puppets co-exist. Viewers follow Herbie, the police force's first puppet detective, valiantly trying to improve his detective skills without becoming disillusioned and hardened, and his human man-child partner Sanchez as they unravel high-profile cases that touch upon such hot-button issues as jellybean smuggling, the anti-human movement, and puppet sex-crimes. Dead bodies, compromised forensics and shoot-outs are par for the course in the visually exciting, seam-splittingly hilarious and gritty puppet world of The Fuzz. Created and written by Waverly Films (Chris Ford, Duncan Skiles and Jon Watts) and executive produced by Dave Becky, Tom Lassally, Greg Walter and 3Arts Entertainment, the series has also been greenlit for five Webisodes to air on Comedy Central's sister network, Atom.com, later this year.
(Thanks Animation Magazine)
New Ice Age, X-Men, Twilight Pics Get Relea
se Dates
The critters of Ice Age are coming back for a fourth big-screen outing.20th Century Fox has announced it will release Ice Age: Continental Drift in theaters on July 13, 2012. The film will be released in stereoscopic 3-D, making it the second film in the series after Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs to be released in that format.
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs was a huge hit last year for the studio, grossing $884 million worldwide.
And that’s not the only film that got a release date.
Fox also set a release date of June 3, 2011 for X-Men: First Class, which will now be directed by Kick-Ass helmer Matthew Vaughn. The film will go back to the early days of the X-Men and focus on younger versions of such characters as Cyclops, Jean Grey and Beast. Vaughn previously was set to direct X-Men: The Last Stand before scheduling issues prompted him to pull out of the project.
Also, Paramount set the release date for Mission: Impossible IV, starring Tom Cruise, as Dec. 16, 2011.
And The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn will debut on Nov. 18, 2011. It’s not yet clear if the adaptation of the final book in the series will consist of one film or two.
(Thanks Animation Magazine)
Eight Animated Films Vie for Student Academy Awards
Eight animated films are among the 31 finalists for the 2010 Student Academy Awards.The winners will be determined by a vote of Academy members who view the films at special screenings. Gold, silver and bronze level awards will be presented in each of four categories, with winners receiving cash prizes of $5,000, $3,000 and $2,000 respectively.
Winners also will be brought to Los Angeles for a week of industry-related events that will culminate in an awards ceremony set for June 12 at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
The finalists are:
Animation
• Deadline, Bang Lao Yir, Savannah College of Art and Design, Georgia
• Departure of Love, Jennifer Bors, Ringling College of Art and Design, Florida
• Down to the Bone, Peter Ahern, Pratt Institute, New York
• Dried Up, Isaiah Powers and Jeremy Casper, Kansas City Art Institute, Missouri
• Lifeline, Andres Salaff, California Institute of the Arts
• Mashed, Adam Fisher, Rochester Institute of Technology, New York
• Piece of Cake, Eliza Ivanova, California Institute of the Arts
• The Wonder Hospital, Beomsik Shimbe Shim, California Institute of the Arts
Alternative
• Balance, Debra Sea, University of North Carolina-Greensboro
• Multiply, Emily Henricks, University of Southern California
• My Mother’s Prelude, Imran Shafi, University of Southern California
• Surface: Film from Below, Varathit Uthaisri, Parsons The New School for Design, New York
• Water, Moon, Mirror, Flower, Tianran Duan, University of Southern California
Documentary
• A’Plas, Diego Colombi, Savannah College of Art and Design
• Arresting Ana, Lucie Schwartz, University of California, Berkeley
• Dreams Awake (Suea Despierto), Kevin Gordon and Rebekah Meredith, Stanford University, California
• Ecoviews: Three Stories from Chesapeake Bay, Ted Roach and J.P. Eason, American University, Washington, D.C.
• My Name is Sydney, Melanie Vi Levy, Stanford University
• Prayers for Peace, Dustin Grella, School of Visual Arts, New York
• Rediscovering Pape, Maria Royo, City College of New York
• When I’m 64, Caitlin Brown, New York University
• ‘Yizkor’ Remembrance, Ruth Fertig, University of Texas at Austin
Narrative
• The Cemetery Club, Yitz Brilliant and Geoffrey Booth, Columbia University, New York
• Day Labor, Lowell Frank, San Diego State University, California
• Down in Number 5, Kim Spurlock, New York University
• Equestrian Sexual Response, Zeke Hawkins, American Film Institute, California
• God of Love, Luke Matheny, New York University
• Inspector 42, Nathan Lee and Lyvia Martinez, Brigham Young University
• The Last Bogatyr, Sarah R. Lotfi and Kevin Beechwood, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
• The Lunch Box, Lubomir Kocka, Savannah College of Art and Design
• Patrol, John Ford, American Film Institute
The Academy established the Student Academy Awards in 1972 to support and encourage excellence in filmmaking at the collegiate level.
The 37th Annual Student Academy Awards ceremony on June 12 is free and open to the public, but advance tickets are required. Tickets may be obtained online at www.oscars.org, in person at the academy box office or by mail. For more information, call (310) 247-3600.
(Thanks Animation Magazine)
4Kids Latches on to BRB’s Suckers Series
4Kids Entertainment is the new licensing agent in North America, the United Kingdom and Ireland for Suckers, a new animated series from BRB Internacional.The series consists of 104 two-minute episodes depicting the world as seen by toys attached to the rear windows of cars by suction cups. The comedy series, which is aimed at children ages 6-12 and has no dialoge, won the Kids Jury Award at MIP Junior in 2009.
Suckers has been airing on Disney XD in the United States since last February and in Spain starting in April, with the rest of the EMEA region to follow.
“The show is very unusual, great fun and presents a significant opportunity in licensing terms,” said Sandra Vauthier-Cellier, managing director of 4Kids Entertainment International.
4Kids Entertainment will be showing Suckers in booth 5649 at the Licensing International Expo, set for June 8-10 in Las Vegas.
(Thanks Animation Magazine)
Flickerlab Animates on the Back of 3000 Napkins
Napkin scribbles are typically considered a hasty effort, but in Flickerlab’s new spot for BNY Mellon, you can see real artistic craftsmanship. The spot, titled Innovation Driven, was Co-Directed by Harold Moss and Lineboil contributor Dan Forgione, and it was produced traditionally using actual napkins – 3000 of them. More details over on Forgione’s blog.
Israel’s 4000 Year History Animated in 4 Minutes
I’m not a big fan of religions, but this short below caught my attention. The Tel Aviv-based company Keta Keta produced this short, titled Israel’s History – 4000 years in 4 minutes, which does what it says. Of course, all history is open to interpretation, but this did help me sort out how this big mideast mess got started.
May Studio Rounds
Recently, I've gotten inquiries along the lines of "Hey, Why don't you give us more studio reports? What's happened to those?"
Good question.
And here's the answer. There's not much that goes on that's very different from week to week. (I can't really keep typing: "Went through Disney/DreamWorks/Warner Bros. Animation today. Again. Lots of people in cubicles and offices, working at desks." That would get kind of boring, yes?)
So let me be semi-boring ...
Tuesday I was at the Walt Disney Animation Studio, and the two productions going full bore (Tangled, Winnie the Pooh) are still going along. (You're shocked, I know, but they do have release dates to meet.) As to future projects, one of the animators said:
"Ron and John have pitched John Lasseter one feature idea, and they've got another pitch coming up. I don't know if it's a completely different idea or the first idea with changes. There's some overtime going on with Tangled, but I don't think there's tons of people working Saturdays and Sundays yet ..."
Today at Starz Media, a lot of Simpsons cubicles and offices were empty due to the hiatuses (hiati?) of a lot of timers, designers and layout artists. One designer still there informed me, "I was off for three weeks, but a lot of other artists have four, five and eight weeks off."
I can't remember seeing so many Yellow Family work spaces so empty, but other parts of the studio are filling up, with the Marvel/Disney animated shows humming, a new show on the second floor ramping up and a couple of new productions soon to come onto the third floor.
Meanwhile, remodeling of the Hasbro part of the building goes on. How close are they to finishing? I've no idea. Some smart monkey said to me a couple months ago that the company was moving personnel in at the start of April, and we know how that worked out. Here we are in May already, and not a soul in sight.
When it finally happens, I'll let you know. (Like I said, a semi-boring report. What you going to do?)
(Thanks Animation Guild Blog)
RumpelDeals revealed, Pied Piper posted
DreamWorks has two new videos and a website out to promote the upcoming Shrek Forever After. First up is an viral-type infomercial posted at Trailer Addicts starring Rumpelstiltskin. In it the dwarf hawks his new website, RumpelDeals.com. Next up, ComingSoon.net has a video that introduces us to the Pied Piper who, in the Shrek world, turns out to be a bounty hunter.Ice Age 4 coming in 2012
Variety, in a laconic story, reports that Ice Age 4 is in the works at Fox. Tentatively titled Ice Age: Continental Drift, it is scheduled for July 13, 2012.
Pop by Bernard Derriman
A short celebrating 50 years of the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, directed and animated by Bernard Derriman.
(Thanks, Steve Plunkett)
(Thanks Cartoon Brew)
Love & Theft by Andreas Hykade
It’s fun to see a talented filmmaker like Andreas Hykade (Ring of Fire, Runt) explore a different direction in his work. The cleverness of Love & Theft’s morphing animation loops grasped my attention, and as a bonus, the psychedelic imagery is filled with animation references, not only to cartoon characters but also to filmmakers (see if you can identify Bill Plympton and Ryan Larkin).
(Thanks, Charlie)
(Thanks Cartoon Brew)
Urban Stencil
ADA SPORT (ADA standing for Animation Dance Association) is a web competition where animation teams create quick short films which compete against each other for an ADA “Championship Title”. Here’s one of the better entries, a nice bit of guerilla filmmaking by Christi Bertelsen.
(Thanks Cartoon Brew)
Despicable Me to Close Los Angeles Film Festival
The Los Angeles Film Festival, which this year is moving to the downtown region, will go out on an animated note.The festival has announced the Universal animated film Despicable Me will be the closing night film of the festival on June 27.
That will be the world premiere for the stereoscopic 3-D film, which is directed by Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin and features the voices of Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russel Brand, Kristen Wiig, Will Arnett and Julie Andrews. The film is slated to open nationwide on July 9.
The fest also will host the world premiere of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse on June 24. The festival opens June 17 with a screening of The Kids Are Alright.
The festival is making the move downtown to make its base at the new Regal 14 Showcase Cinemas at the L.A. Live district. Films also will be screened at the Downtown Independent theater, the CalArts/REDCAT theater and the historic Orpheum Theater on Broadway.
(Thanks Animation Magazine)
Metropia, Mr. Fox and One Piece to Screen at Annecy
The event organizers of the Annecy International Festival of Animation have unveiled the feature film line-up for this year’s 50th Anniversary edition (June 7-12).The six animated movies slated to screen at the French fest are Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, Jean-Christophe Roger’s Allez Raconte! Dominique Monfery’s Eleanor’s Secret (Kerity, la maison des contes), Tarik Saleh’s Metropia, Munehisa Sakai’s One Piece Film: Strong World, Liu Jian’s Piercing 1 and Mamoru Hosada’s Summer Wars.
To learn more about the star-studded 50th anniversary lineup, visit www.annecy.org
(Thanks Animation Magazine)
Deal Propels Dark Crystal Sequel Forward
The 1982 classic Jim Henson film The Dark Crystal is getting a sequel.The film, Power of the Dark Crystal, will be a stereoscopic 3-D film made by Australia-based Omnilab Media in partnership with The Jim Henson Co.
Brothers Peter and Michael Spierig will direct the sequel. Craig Pearce wrote the screenplay, based on a script by Annette Duffy and David Odell.
Henson Co’s Brian Henson, Lisa Henson and Jason Lust; Omnilab Media's Christopher Mapp, Matthew Street and David Whealy; and CineMarket Film’s Peter D. Graves are signed on as executive producers.
Brian Froud, who worked on the original film, will reprise his role as conceptual designer for the movie, which will mix live-action footage with puppetry and visual effects.
Set centuries after the first movie, the sequel follows a girl made of fire who teams up with a Gelfling to steal a sliver of the crystal to save the planet.
Jim Henson wrote the story for and co-directed the original film with frequent Muppets collaborator Frank Oz.
(Thanks Animation Magazine)
13th Season Release Restores Simpsons’ Natural Order
Fox has announced it’s getting its release schedule for The Simpsons on DVD and Blu-ray back in order.The studio has announced that The Simpsons: The 13th Season will be released in both formats on Aug. 24.
The first 12 seasons of the iconic series were released in order on DVD, until earlier this year when they skipped ahead to a DVD and Blu-ray release of the 20th season.
The 13th season set will include 22 episodes, all with commentary tracks, on four DVDs for $49.98 or on three Blu-ray discs for $59.99.
Season 13 aired in 2001-2002 and includes guest voices from the likes of R.E.M., Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Stan Lee, George Takei, Richard Gere, Paul Newman and Reese Witherspoon.
(Thanks Animation Magazine)
4Kids Signs U.K., Spain Deals for Dinosaur King
4Kids Entertainment has completed broadcast deals in the United Kingdom and Spain for its animated series Dinosaur King.The deals see GMTV in the United Kingdom add the second season of the show to its current slate, while Turner in Spain has signed on for seasons one and two.
The addition of Spain completes the list of major European free and pay TV networks now airing Dinosaur King and brings the total number of markets licensed to over 90 countries.
Dinosaur King airs in the United States on The CW4Kids block, and also airs in France, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Lithuania, Italy, Germany, Mexico, Finland, and other nations.
(Thanks Animation Magazine)
Chicago’s Lift Motion Merges with Vitamin
Chicago animation and motion graphics producer Lift Motion has merged with the digital production studio Vitamin.The combined company will operate under the Vitamin name and will be headed up by Vitamin creative director Danny DelPurgatorio. The company will offer concept-through-delivery services for commercials, broadcast promos and graphics, online content and music videos.
Both companies are affiliates of the post production company Filmworkers.
According to DelPurgatorio, synergies between the two companies’ talent and resources made a compelling case for a merger. “It gives us a tighter structure and a more streamlined workflow, and allows clients to get everything they need in one place. But we’re still the same company; our aesthetic hasn’t changed,” he says. “This just opens the doors to bigger and better things.”
As part of the merger, Filmworkers producer Larissa Shames has joined Vitamin. The company also has added Ilene Silberman as its East Coast representation.
Vitamin has recently worked on commercials for Jeep, McDonald’s, Steelcase and Budweiser, as well as music videos for Alex Metric and Maroon 5. Lift’s recent credits include work for ABC, CBS, FOX, SPEED, Leo Burnett, DDB and Energy BBDO.
(Thanks Animation Magazine)
'Iron Man 2' Breaks 'The Dark Knight' Record
FROM MTV MOVIES: Say what you will about his dubious personal ethics and his abundant supply of arrogance, but it's impossible to deny that Tony Stark knows how to attract an audience — just check his international records for proof.Now, as "Iron Man 2" prepares to fly into theaters all across the United States this weekend, the superhero is poised to draw a crowd the likes of which Hollywood has never seen before.
With a few short hours to go before its U.S. release, the Marvel Studios superhero sequel is already carving out a spot in the domestic box office's history books — according to Deadline Hollywood, "Iron Man 2" will have the widest initial release in Hollywood history, with a walloping 4,380 venues to its name, courtesy of distributor Paramount Pictures. The previous record holder was Warner Bros.' "The Dark Knight," which boasted 4,366 locations in 2008.
Continue reading 'Iron Man 2' Gets Widest Release In Hollywood History at Movies.MTV.com.
'The Last Airbender' Gets More Images, New Website
With M. Night Shyamalan's "The Last Airbender" hitting theaters in July, the studio has released three new images from the live-action adaptation of the hit animated series, as well as a brand new website.The trio of images includes two new posters featuring Aang (Noah Ringer) and Prince Zuko (Dev Patel), as well as a standalone image from the film featuring a beat-up Zuko squaring off against an unknown foe. The studio also unveiled a fresh new website for "The Last Airbender" that contains all sorts of fun stuff for fans.
Along with the expected array of images, desktop and Twitter themes, and various other social media swag, the website also features a "Discover Your Element" feature that assigns you one of the four elements manipulated in the film: fire, air, earth and water. (In case you're wondering, I'm part of the Fire Nation.) Read more...
Check out the images below:
Jon Favreau Explains Why 'Iron Man 2' Is Better Than 'Iron Man'
With the release of "Iron Man 2" only days away, early reviews of the film have already started to hit the 'Net.
However, "Iron Man 2" director Jon Favreau is not only confident that fans will respond positively to the sequel — early box office projections have it within range of breaking the opening weekend record held by "The Dark Knight" — he also believes that his latest "Iron Man" film is even better than the original.
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