Wrapping up the week with the following desk-clearing news items:
• After years of alternating its focus, The World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb has merged features and shorts into a single annual event starting in 2015. The upcoming edition is set for June 9-14 in Zagreb, Croatia. Application deadline for competitions is Feb. 1.
• Cinelicious Pics has signed an exclusive deal to restore and distribute the long-unavailable 1973 Japanese animated masterpiece Belladonna of Sadness, as its first major restoration and re-release. The last film in the groundbreaking Animerama trilogy produced by Osamu Tezuka and directed by Eiichi Yamamoto, Belladonna of Sadness has never before been released in the United States. The re-release plans call for a 2015 theatrical, VOD, and home video re-release in North America.
• Disney has released a new trailer for Into the Woods, the upcoming live-action adaptation of the musical. Directed by Rob Marshall and starring Meryl Streep and Johnny Depp, the film features extensive VFX from MPC. It’s due in theaters Christmas Day. Take a look:
• Anthony Bourdain will guest star as famous TV food dude, Anthony Gourmand, in an upcoming episode of Nickelodeon’s Sanjay and Craig slated to air 2015.
• SEGA’s Sonic Boom animated series premieres Nov. 8 on Cartoon Network. The brand-new series includes eleven-minute episodes co-produced by SEGA of America and OuiDO! Productions. The series premiere in the U.S. will be followed by debuts Nov. 19 in France on Canal J and on Gulli in spring 2015. The Middle East will launch spring 2015 with other territories to follow in fall 2015.
• Martha Speaks is celebrating the holidays with a week of winter fun beginning Nov. 17 on PBS KIDS. Martha’s Woof-er-ific Winter Special begins with two all-new holiday-themed episodes and the fun continues throughout the week with more winter holiday adventures, including Martha’s Thanksgiving.
