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Anime Expo and Iconic Events Releasing launch AX Cinema Nights, an in-person movie event series that celebrates the best new and classic anime films brought to local theaters across North America, giving fans nationwide an opportunity to gather as a community at local cinemas and share their love for anime films.
For its next engagment, AX Cinema Nights presents Eleven Arts’ The House of the Lost on the Cape, an Official Selection at the 2022 Annecy International Animation Film Festival, which will be released on September 7. The film will initially open in Los Angeles and New York, then expand to several other markets in North America over the following weeks. Anime fans will be able to watch both versions of the film (original Japanese audio with English subtitles and original English audio) in participating theaters nationwide.
Synopsis: When a devastating natural disaster leaves 17-year-old run-away Yui and eight-year-old orphan Hiyori without a home, they are taken in by Kiwa, a strange old woman who offers to let them stay in an abandoned yet suspiciously well-kept house overlooking the sea, known as a Mayoiga: a legendary house, said to look after lost travelers. Despite Yui’s hesitation to trust anyone and Hiyori’s inability to speak, they begin to form a sisterly bond that allows them to find comfort in the Mayoiga and embrace Kiwa’s hospitality. However, when a menacing entity is accidentally released and threatens their new home, the three must face their fears to save it.
The Japanese-language, English-subtitled trailer is also availalbe here.
Making his feature directorial debut, The House of the Lost on the Cape was directed by Shinya Kawatsura (Non Non Biyori, Kokoro Connect, Sagrada Reset) and written by Reiko Yoshida (A Silent Voice, Violet Evergarden, K-On!). The film was animated by David Production (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure series, Cells at Work!). Earlier this year, the film won Best Animation Film at the 76th Annual Mainichi Film Awards.
The House of the Lost on the Cape is based on the award-winning Japanese novel by Sachiko Kashiwaba, which was originally serialized in the Iwate Nippo daily newspaper from May 2014 to July 2015, and later published by Kodansha. The novel won the 54th Noma Children’s Literature Award in 2016. The film adaptation, along with other anime films, was released in 2021 as part of the Continuing Support Project 2011+10 (Zutto Ouen Project 2011+10), which marked the 10th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Kashiwaba has inspired many artists and films, including Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away (2001).
Tickets and participating location info will be available soon at ax-cinemanights.com.
Global gaming phenomenon Cuphead is celebrating a year of massive success, from the debut of the acclaimed series The Cuphead Show! in February, to the June 30 release of the highly-anticipated video game expansion Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course — which has already reached platinum status. Studio MDHR’s eight-time platinum-selling video game continues to be a fan favorite!
Ahead of new episodes dropping later this month, fans can tune in tonight (Friday, August 5) at 5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT for a special, interactive, social gaming experience: The Cuphead Show! Presents: Roll the Dice, executed by the creative agency GLOW (weareglow.com), where viewers around the world will have their Cuphead knowledge tested and be given exclusive access to never before seen content from the second batch drop of The Cuphead Show!.
The engaging and interactive livestream was made available to fans through a ‘flock to unlock’ call to action on the show’s social channels, where the character, Stickler, implored fans to help him restore The Devil’s records in order to return the “Roll the Dice” game show to the air. During this evening’s livestream, fans can crowdsource answers in their respective chats to drive outcomes in the game through challenges like ‘Name That Tune’, rounds of Trivia and ‘Roll the Dice.’ Players will then be sent to a mystery prize room where exclusive prizes await!
Take a chance and roll them virtual bones but joining the fun on Twitter, Twitch or YouTube!
Cuphead interactive campaign by GLOW
Cuphead interactive campaign by GLOW
Cuphead interactive campaign by GLOW
Since The Cuphead Show! debuted in February, the animated adaptation of the award-winning video game has received high praise for its stunning designs and classic animation art style. The Cuphead Show! is executive produced by Dave Wasson, Chad Moldenhauer, Jared Moldenhauer and CJ Kettler, with Cosmo Segurson serving as co-executive producer and music by Ego Plum. Cuphead, Mugman and the Inkwell Isles crew will be returning to Netflix with new episodes and more misadventures on August 19.
The original Cuphead video game is celebrated by fans around the world for its arcade-action gameplay, highly original art design and award-winning soundtrack, featuring almost three hours of original jazz, early big band and ragtime music. A true cultural phenomenon, the game has sold millions of units worldwide and won over 20 major awards.
Ahead of the highly anticipated U.S. release of his Venice Biennale and TIFF selected feature Inu-Oh, GKIDS has announced additional theaters where fans can experience this mind-blowing animated feature, and released a new trailer for their Masaaki Yuasa collection.
Featuring the films Mind Game (2004, Studio 4°C), Lu Over the Wall (2o17, Science Saru), The Night Is Shorts, Walk on Girl (2017, Science Saru) and Ride Your Wave(2019, Science Saru) as well as his latest, Inu-Oh, The Works of Masaaki Yuasa is a showcase of the acclaimed director’s varied approaches, bold style and perpetual ability to astound the senses.
Described as a 14th century rock opera, Inu-Oh is named for one of hte main characters: a boy born into an esteemed family but afflicted with an ancient curse twisting his form. When he meets the blind musician Tomona, a young biwa priest haunted by his past voiced by Queen Bee’s Avu-chan, Inu-oh discovers a captivating ability to dance. The pair quickly become business partners and inseparable friends as crowds flock to their electric, larger-than-life concerts. But when those in power threaten to break up the band, Inu-oh and Tomona must dance and sing to uncover the truth behind their creative gifts.
The film opens nationwide on Friday, August 12. In addition to previously announced theaters, GKIDS has added the following markets to the release. Find theaters and showtimes near you at inu-oh.com.
New markets (alphabetical by state):
Alaska: Anchorage
Arkansas: Little Rock
California: Bakersfield, Beaumont, Contravista, Daly City, Dublin, Folsom, Glendora, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Long Beach, Milpitas, Modesto, Ontario, Oxnard, Pleasant Hill, Sacramento, Salinas, Santa Rosa, Simi Valley, South Gate, Stockton, Vacaville, Woodland
Florida: Fort Myers, Gainesville, Aventura, Davie, Kissimmee, West Melbourne, Winter Park, Panama City Beach, Tallahassee, Brandon, Pinellas Park, Seminole, Jensen Beach
Michigan: Canton, Novi, Rochester Hills, Ypsilanti
Minnesota: Eagan, Lakeville, Plymouth, White Bear
Missouri: North Kansas City, Springfield
Montana: Missoula
North Carolina: Winston-Salem, Cary
Nevada: North Las Vegas, Reno, Sparks
New Mexico: Albuquerque
New York: Albany, Buffalo, Poughkeepsie
Ohio: Cincinnati, Mason, Elyria, North Canton, Valley View, Willoughby, HIllard, Beavercreek, Toledo
Oklahoma: Tulsa
Oregon: Bend, Beaverton, Hillsboro, Tigard
Pennsylvania: Lancaster, King of Prussia, Moosic
Rhode Island: Lincoln
Souoth Carolina: Summerville
Tennessee: Knoxville, Nashville
Texas: Austin, Pflugerville, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Denton, Grand Prairie, Hurst, Lewisville, Plano, The Colony, El Paso, Pharr, Conroe, Katy, Pasadena, Stafford, The Woodlands, Webster, Laredo, San Antonio, College Station
Utah: Ogden, Orem, Providence, Provo, Salt Lake City, Sandy, St. George, Vineyard, West Jordan, West Valley City
Crunchyroll and anime studio MAPPA have unveiled a blood-spattered new trailer for Chainsaw Man, the highly anticipated series based on the original manga created by writer-illustrator Tatsuki Fujimoto. The partners also revealed the Japanese-language voice cast. Check out the subtitled 30″ trailer below or the full-length trailer on MAPPA’s YouTube channel.
Synopsis: Denji is a teenage boy living with a Chainsaw Devil named Pochita. Due to the debt his father left behind, he has been living a rock-bottom life while repaying his debt by harvesting devil corpses with Pochita. One day, Denji is betrayed and killed. As his consciousness fades, he makes a contract with Pochita and gets revived as “Chainsaw Man” — a man with a devil’s heart.
The Japanese voice cast just announced features:
Kikunosuke Toya as Denji
Tomori Kusunoki (Natsume in Deca-Dence) as Makima
Shogo Sakata (Karin Sasaki in Fire Force) as Aki Hayakawa
Fairouz Ai (Jolyne Kujo in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean) as Power
The series adaptation is directed by Ryu Nakayama (JUJUTSU KAISEN Ep. 19), with Masato Nakazono (JUJUTSU KAISEN, SSSS.Gridman) as assistant director, from a screenplay by Hiroshi Seko (Mob Psycho 100,JUJUTSU KAISEN). The core creative team also includes background art director Yusuke Takeda (Vinland Saga,JUJUTSU KAISEN), character designer Kazutaka Sugiyama (Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation), ‘Devil’ designer Kiyotaka Oshiyama (Flip Flappers, Space Dandy) and action director Tatsuya Yoshihara (Black Clover, Yatterman Night); music by Kensuke Ushio (A Silent Voice, Devilman Crybaby).
Fans can find out more about the project from MAPPA Producer, Executive Director & Rights Management Director Makoto Kimura and CEO Manabu Otsuka this weekend during the Crunchyroll Expo. The Chainsaw Man panel is scheduled for Sunday, August 7 at 1 p.m. PT.
DreamWorks Animation announced their intent to release their proprietary production renderer, MoonRay, as open source software later this year. The studio’s state-of-the-art Monte Carlo Ray Tracer has been used on feature films such as How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Croods: A New Age, The Bad Guys and the upcoming Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.
MoonRay was developed by DreamWorks’ world-class engineers, and includes an extensive library of production-tested, physically based materials, a USD Hydra render delegate, multi-machine and cloud rendering via Arras.
“We are thrilled to share with the industry over 10 years of innovation and development on MoonRay’s vectorized, threaded, parallel and distributed code base,” said Andrew Pearce, Vice President of Global Technology at DreamWorks. “The appetite for rendering at scale grows each year, and MoonRay is set to meet that need. We expect to see the code base grow stronger with community involvement as DreamWorks continues to demonstrate our commitment to open source.”
DreamWorks’ in-house MCRT renderer, MoonRay, was designed from the start with a focus on efficiency and scalability, with the mantra to “…keep all the vector lanes of all the cores of all the machines busy all the time with meaningful work,” as well as provide modern features for full artistic expression. It can deliver a broad range of images from photorealistic to strongly stylized. MoonRay is built on a leading-edge, highly-scalable architecture with no prior legacy code, allowing quick, feature-film quality artistic iteration using familiar tools.
Additional high-performance features include support for distributed rendering, a pixel matching XPU mode that offers improved performance by processing bundles of rays on the GPU as well as the CPU, ray processing via Intel Embree, shader vectorization utilizing Intel ISPC compilation and bundled path tracing. MoonRay includes a USD Hydra render delegate for integration into content creation tools that support the standard.
“We are proud of our close collaboration with DreamWorks on MoonRay with its impressive photoreal ray tracing rendering performance supported by open source Intel Embree and Intel Implicit SPMD Program Compiler (Intel ISPC), both distributed in the Intel one API Rendering Toolkit,” said Jim Jeffers, Sr. Director, Sr. Principal Engineer, Intel Advanced Ray Tracing.
“MoonRay’s features like hair and fur rendering were developed in collaboration with Intel. The resulting improvements are included in Intel Embree’s ray tracing kernel library and exemplify how using open software benefits the entire ecosystem. By adopting Intel ISPC, MoonRay embraces vector instruction parallelism for dramatic performance improvements. Intel looks forward to new opportunities to apply oneAPI cross-architecture, cross-vendor support to this open source project for all creators.”
MoonRay utilizes DreamWorks’ distributed computation framework, Arras, also to be included in the open source code base, to provide innovative multi-machine and multi-context support. Multi-machine rendering speeds up the interactive display for the artist, decouples rendering from the interactive tool which increases interactive robustness. Using MoonRay and Arras in a multi-context mode, the artist can simultaneously visualize multiple lighting conditions, varying material properties, multiple times in a shot or sequence, or even multiple locations in an environment.
“We see using MoonRay with Arras on Microsoft Azure as a game-changer in the hands of artists, providing faster iterations on lighting, and also enabling multi-context rendering. As visual effects and animation content grows in complexity, so does the compute requirements to create and render,” said Simon Crownshaw, Microsoft’s Director of Business Strategy for Media & Communications. “Microsoft Azure allows studios and artists to access MoonRay with Arras for the first time and power the platform with a broad portfolio of compute capacity in the cloud and scale on demand across the globe.”
Bill Ballew, Chief Technology Officer at DreamWorks, noted, “MoonRay has been a game-changer for our productions. We have over a billion hours of use at DreamWorks. As the open source community continues to embrace and enhance it we’ll see significant benefits to the animation and visual effects industry as well as academia.”
DreamWorks intends to make MoonRay available under the Apache 2.0 license. Further information and updates will be available at OpenMoonRay.org.
A division of the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, within NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, DreamWorks Animation is a global family entertainment company with feature film and TV brands supported by a robust, worldwide consumer products practice. DWA’s feature film heritage includes beloved characters and franchises such as Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon, Spirit, Trolls, The Boss Baby and 2022’s The Bad Guys, which have amassed more than $15 billion in global box office. DreamWorks Animation’s award-winning original TV content reaches consumers in more than 190 countries.
Sander Joon chats with us about his award-winning new short Sierra.
Sander Joon
Estonian animation writer and director Sander Joon is often inspired by specific sports. His new surreal short Sierra, which won the Best of the Fest prize at Palm Springs ShortFest earlier this year, centers on a racing-obsessed father who turns his kid into a tire!
“My father Heikki Joon actually did a black-and-white 16mm animated film back in 1980 about a car race,” recalls Joon. “He was 16 at the time, and he animated it on his bathroom floor using model cars. I had always wanted to use this piece in my work. While developing the story for Sierra, it naturally evolved to be about our relationship — how we grew apart, but found a common ground. The short also hints at the Ford Sierra, which was kind of like a family relic, as it was given to whoever had just got their driver’s license. I was the last in a row, but since we lived in the capital I rarely drove — so it ended up collecting rust. Our Sierra was finally stolen by some very determined thieves, since it didn’t start when I last tried to drive it!”
Joon began sketching the short’s rally drives about five years ago, and the idea for the short started to take shape in 2019 when funding was secured. “Our primary tool for 3D animation was Maya and for everything 2D we used Krita. In total, we had about eight people on our team. I had three animators who all came and went at different periods. At first, I panicked about giving up control, but in the end, I’m very happy to admit they ended up delivering much more than I expected!”
Raised to Win: A father’s obsession with car racing turns his son into a tire in Sander Joon’s award-win- ning short, Sierra.
Bold and Simple
Sierra’s visual style is inspired by the 1980s Group B rally cars. “The bold color schemes and simple graphics of that era are so pleasing to study and reference. From early 3D animation tests, I was pretty sure that this sort of flat color rendering would be the look for the film. Also, it opened up possibilities to trick the perspective and keep the render times short — which was a win-win!”
During Sierra’s development, Joon’s biggest challenge was to find a nice balance between the narrative and the surreal scenes. “I gave my best to make the playful scenes support the overall message,” he says. “Coming up with a final scene to tie it all together was also a huge challenge. During the production, the biggest challenge was to keep everything on track and have shots prepared for animators at all times.” He also mentions that the biggest lesson he learned was to trust your team. “I can guarantee that well-chosen partners will bring something unexpected and fresh to your project.”
Joon says he’s also quite pleased with the short’s soundscape. “The raw sounds of flora and fauna mixed with loud engines from Matis Rei and the nostalgic tunes from Misha Panfilov created a perfect symphony,” he notes. “While writing the story, I was listening to Panfilov’s album Heli Maagia on repeat. When I was searching for the composer for the film, I asked the maestro if he’d be interested to compose for the short. He jumped right in and went way beyond my expectations. I’m thrilled to announce that the soundtrack will have an official vinyl release!”
Looking back at his earliest animation experiences, Joon says he somehow discovered tools for making gifs even before he had access to the internet. “When I was around 13, I got a chance to animate ecards in Flash, and I was surprised to get paid for it,” he tells us. “With some leaps, I haven’t stopped working in animation since!”
“I’m personally very excited about the rapid development of free tools for animation,” he adds. “The quality of work coming from independent Blender users is awe-inspiring. This sort of availability opens up many possibilities for talented indie animators. In general, I’m happy that indie animation is breaking through on mainstream platforms. Every year we see more people realizing that animation is not merely a medium for family-friendly films.”
Finally, what does he hope audiences will take away from his memorable short?
“I designed Sierra to be ambivalent enough for audiences to fill in the key moments with their own ideas,” he admits. “Hence, I’m delighted to hear different explanations for the film. I hope the audiences will find their own meaning to what happens in the film. I’ve been thinking that the film could actually be translated to any form or scale of expectations by an individual!”
Sierra was the winner of the top prize at the Palm Springs Shorts Festival.
You can watch the trailer here:
See more of Sander Joon’s work at cargocollective.com/sanderjoon. You can also follow him on Instagram @sanderjoon
Maxon, the developers of professional 3D modeling, animation, rendering and motion design software solutions, have announced the speaker lineup and schedule for its upcoming 3D and Motion Design Show for SIGGRAPH 2022.
Taking place all day from Tuesday, August 9 to Thursday, August 11, this supersized show is packed with presentations from 13 incredible speakers, with specialized experience across a variety of industries including feature films, automotive, sports graphics and video games. The presenters will be showcasing how users can improve their workflows across a range of motion design, animation, and visual effects using the Maxon suite of tools. With demonstrations of new features in Cinema 4D S26, videos featuring Red Giant effects, Sci-Fi Loops and Robots, and more, there truly is something for everyone at this month’s show.
Broadcast live from Maxon’s SIGGRAPH booth (445) from 10 a.m. PDT each day, presentations will also be available on-demand shortly after on 3DMotionShow.com as well as the Maxon YouTube channel. Viewers are encouraged to participate in the artist-led conversations by sending in questions via chat for live Q&A.
Including presentations from:
Anthony Bari Jr.– Emmy award-winning post production expert with 15+ years in the entertainment industry
Chris Schmidt– Longstanding Cinema 4D legend and the founder of Rocket Lasso
EJ Hassenfratz – A multi-Emmy winning freelance motion design artist and Cinema 4D Master Trainer
Elly Wade – U.K.-based expert trainer and self-taught Cinema 4D artist
Eric Say– Freelance motion graphics artist specializing in sports graphics
Joey Camacho– Director and digital artist specializing in designing rich tech-centric visuals
Jonathan Winbush – Hollywood-based motion graphics artist and founder of Winbush Immersive
Justin Goby Fields – Concept designer and creative director servicing feature films, video games, and other visual media
Mahnoor Barry – Motion Graphic Artist at FOX Television and a district award-winning artist
Athanasios “Noseman” Pozantzis– Cinema 4D Master Trainer with 30+ years in the advertising industry, and founder of Noseman Productions
Russ Gautier– Emmy-nominated freelance designer and director for film and television at Robot Astronaut
Steve Talkowski– Creative Director at Sketchbot Studios with 30+ years on the computer animation scene
Victor Dimitrov– 3D generalist with a background in editing, modeling, compositing, and rotoscoping
Visit 3DMotionShow.com to see the full three-day presentation schedule.
Following the news that the direct-to-streaming sequel to Scoob!had been axed from its feature slate, Warner Bros. Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels confirmed on the company’s earnings call Thursday that live-action kids’ content and animation for both its streaming and linear networks will be cut as part of broader cost-cutting measures following the $43 billion AT&T/Discovery deal.
WBD is parent to the major kids’ animation players Cartoon Network, Boomerang and HBO Max.
The company reported a Q2 loss of more than $3.41 billlion, due to costs accrued from asset amortization, restructuring and expenses related to the merger. However, WBD studios reproted $2.79B in revenues (+3%), with TV networks bringing in $5.74B (+1%) — largely bolstered by increased sports advertising.
CEO David Zaslav shared in a statement that he believed the company’s strategy to continue investment in sports rights and content creation is “the right path to meet our strategic goals and really excel.”
HBO Max, HBO and Discover+ subscribers are up overall, reported at 92.1 million combined (+1.7M from Q1, +22% from previous year), but the company’s streamers are losing domestic subscribers, sitting at 53M (-300K from Q1).
Wiedenfels shared during the call that WBD is also cutting streaming movies, shuttering CNN+, nixing local content in international markets and restructuring its scripted portfolio for linear, as well as significantly stepping back content licensing as it focuses on HBO Max.
“This is, of course, an upside opportunity over time as we ramp initiatives back to a balanced level of monetization, depending on relative value contributions,” he asserted.
Yesterday, Deadline reported that Ellen DeGeneres’ preschool toon Little Ellen, which airs on the HBO Max/CN Cartoonito block, has been canceled ahead of its Season 3 premiere, which has been pushed back from its original June date.
From Cartoonito: Produced by Warner Bros. Animation and Ellen Digital Ventures, Little Ellen is a 2D animated children’s show that explores the world through the eyes of a hilarious and unpredictable seven-year-old Ellen DeGeneres. On her adventures in her musical hometown of New Orleans, Little Ellen takes big risks and makes big mistakes, but she’s always able to laugh at herself and bounce back when things don’t go as planned.
On September 13, Shout! Factory will release Cool World Collector’s Edition, marking the cult hit hybrid film’s first time on Blu-ray. Directed by underground animation legend Ralph Bakshi (The Lord of the Rings, Fritz the Cat), Cool World stars a remarkable cast of Kim Basinger (L.A. Confidential), Brad Pitt (Mr. & Mrs. Smith) and Gabriel Byrne (The Usual Suspects).
Showcasing Bakshi’s unique and creative animation style, the 2D/live-action dark comedy creates a fantasy world where human characters and animated roles coexist — now reflected more richly with a new 4K scan featured in the Collector’s Edition Bllu-ray. The new version was scanned from the original camera negative approved by Bakshi himself. The release also features a new retrospective featurette, “The Wild Minds of Cool World,” including brand-new interviews Basinger, Bakshi and producer Frank Mancuso, Jr.
Synopsis: When ex-con cartoonist Jack Deebs (Byrne) was behind bars, he found escape by creating Cool World, a cartoon series featuring a voluptuous vixen named Holli Would (Basinger). But the ‘toonsmith becomes a prisoner of his own fantasies when Holli pulls him into Cool World with a scheme to seduce him and bring herself to life. A hard-boiled detective (Pitt) – the only other human in Cool World – cautions Jack with the law: Noids (humans) don’t have sex with doodles (cartoons). The flesh proves weaker than ink, however, as Holli takes human form in Las Vegas, starting a trans-reality chase that threatens the destruction of both worlds. With a splashy mix of stylish animation and colorful live-action sequences, Cool World delivers the hottest action around!
● NEW 2022 4K scan from the original camera negative, approved by director Ralph Bakshi
● NEW The Wild Minds of Cool World – A retrospective featurette including brand-new interviews with star Kim Basinger, director Ralph Bakshi, and producer Frank Mancuso, Jr.
As audience prepare to check out the first feature film from Skydance Animation when the folkloric musical-fantasy Luck on Apple TV+ tomorrow (Friday, August 5), critics have been assessing this freshman effort from both ends of the karmic scale. Teetering on a 48% Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes (33 reviews) and a 51 MetaScore on MetaCritic (14 reviews), the movie seems to be fulfilling its own moral: You have to take the bad luck with the good.
Sam Greenfield (Eva Noblezada) considers herself the unluckiest person in the world. When she stumbles into the never-before-seen Land of Luck, Sam sets out on a quest to bring some good luck home for her best friend. But with humans not allowed, her only chance is teaming up with the magical creatures who live there to do it.
With ex-Pixar head John Lasseter producing and a creative team made up of Disney and Pixar veterans (including Secret of the Wings director Peggy Holmes at the helm and Raya and the Last Dragon writer Kiel Murray delivering the script), Luck has inevitably drawn comparisons to the studio’s award-winning films. Critics also noted some derivative nods to Studio Ghibli titles like Kiki’s Delivery Service and The Cat Returns. However, Luck did score points with some reviewers for its technical achievement and design, as well as for strong performances by voice stars Noblezada, Jane Fonda and Whoopi Goldberg.
Here’s what the critcs are saying:
Jane Fonda voices the Dragon who manages the Land of Luck in ‘Luck’ [Skydance/Apple]
“Luck is the kind of hopeful, detailed tale Pixar would release, but this is not a product of the animation behemoth — not really. It’s the brainchild of Skydance Animation, which hired Pixar co-founder and controversy-mired John Lasseter in 2019 … [Luck] possesses some of the same world-building vividness as Monsters, Inc. and Inside Out — Pixar projects that capture the mood and atmosphere of never seen, or imagined, worlds.”
— Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter
“I don’t believe in luck, but I do believe that Luck — the first feature-length toon from David Ellison-backed Skydance Animation — represents a force for good in the world. It’s not easy developing both a pipeline and a project that could compete with the Disneys and DreamWorks out there … While the new studio’s debut can’t touch Toy Story, it’s an auspicious start for a talented group of storytellers … Your mileage may vary. Luck, as they say, is what you make it.”
— Peter Debruge, Variety
“Despite having an emotional arc that becomes evident within its first few minutes, Luck registers as original enough conceptually to maintain one’s interest … Although Luck can’t reach the sophistication level of the best Pixar features, it stands as a far more accomplished effort from a technical standpoint and in the resonance of its story than the dime-a-dozen, talking-animal cash cows infested with vapid pop-culture references that have become the new standard in Hollywood animated releases.”
— Carlos Aguilar, The Wrap
“Luck is like if someone watched the Studio Ghibli film The Cat Returns and thought, ‘What if we Monsters, Inc.-ed it, and threw in the premise of the Lindsay Lohan rom-com Just My Luck just for the hell of it?’ … Luck might be a fun time if it weren’t so clearly reminiscent of other, better movies. But apart from some genuinely stunning visuals (the design of the Land of Luck in particular is a beautiful piece of retro-futurism with a fantasy twist), Luck can’t help but feeling like a Ghibli film processed through a Pixar formula.”
— Hoai-Tran Bui, Slashfilm
“Possibly the biggest surprise to Luck is just how generic and uninspired it feels, despite how many ideas are crammed into this story. There’s no wonder, no excitement, no jokes that land — and while Skydance probably thought they had their own good fortune in locking down the disgraced Lasseter post-Disney, it seems as though his involvement only mucked up what could’ve been a charming story.”
— Ross Bonaime, Collider
“Everything about this robotically made movie looks derivative and contrived; the videogame aesthetic is dull and the quirky high concept plays like a pound-shop knockoff of Inside Out and Soul … Luck’s script is utterly zingless and contorted; it fails to imagine what the ‘bad luck’ half of this secret universe looks like and ties itself in theological knots trying to explain the purpose of bad luck. The target audience deserves better.”
Inspired by the popular How to Train Your Dragon franchise, seven new episodes of DreamWorks Dragons: The Nine Realms arrive on Hulu and Peacock August 18. Check out the soaring Season 3 trailer below!
In S3, the discovery of the Fire Realm poses a challenge as the Dragon Riders struggle to traverse it safely. Meanwhile, the unhinged Buzzsaw is on the lookout for a mysterious “Lightning Bird” making it harder to keep dragons a secret. Tom, Jun, D’Angelo and Alex face off against the most powerful dragon they’ve ever encountered in a high-stakes mission to save the Crystal Realm. And much to everyone’s chagrin, Jun’s pesky, nosey brother is coming uncomfortably close to learning what actually happens in Dragon Club.
Set 1,300 years after the events of How To Train Your Dragon, in Dragons: The Nine Realms, dragons are now just a legend to the modern world. When a geological anomaly opens up an immense, miles-deep fissure in the Earth’s surface, scientists from all over the world gather at a new research facility to study the mysterious phenomenon. Soon a group of misfit kids, brought to the site by their parents, uncover the truth about dragons and where they’ve been hiding — a secret they must keep to themselves to protect what they’ve discovered.
Dragons: The Nine Realms
The series stars Jeremy Shada as Tom Kullerson, Julia Stiles as Olivia Kullerson, Haley Joel Osment as Buzzsaw, Marcus Scribner as D’Angelo Baker, Aimee Garcia as Alexandra Gonzalez, Ashley Liao as Jun Wong, Lauren Tom as May Wong, Keston John as Philip Baker, Justina Machado as Carla Gonzalez and D’arcy Carden as Linda.
Recurring roles are also voiced by Pavar Snipe (Angela Baker), Angelique Cabral (Hazel Gonzalez), Carrie Keranen (Wilma Sledkin) and Vincent Tong (Eugene).
John Tellegen is showrunner and executive producer for Dragons: The Nine Realms, Chuck Austen and Henry Gilroy are also executive producers, with Beth Sleven as supervising producer.
Paramount+ today announced Baby Shark’s Big Movie! (working title), the first-ever feature-length original animated film based on the globally beloved preschool property, is set to premiere holiday 2023 in the U.S.
Co-produced by Nickelodeon Animation and The Pinkfong Company and directed by Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Award winner Alan Foreman (The Casagrandes, Welcome to the Wayne), the movie will follow Baby Shark and his family as they move to Chomp City, the big city of sharks.
In Baby Shark’s Big Movie!, Baby Shark is forced to leave the world he loves behind after his family’s move to the big city, and must adjust to his new life without his best friend, William. When Baby Shark encounters an evil pop starfish named Stariana who plans to steal his gift of song in order to dominate all underwater music, he must break her spell to restore harmony to the seas.
The Daytime Emmy Award-nominated hit preschool series Baby Shark’s Big Show! launched globally in 2021 across Nickelodeon branded channels and platforms and was recently picked up for a second season. The show ranks as the #1 preschool series on all TV in the U.S. for 2Q22.
Baby Shark’s Big Show! features a swim-sational lineup of voice actors: Kimiko Glenn (Orange Is the New Black) as Baby Shark, Luke Youngblood (Fast & Furious Spy Racers) as William, Natasha Rothwell (Insecure) as Mommy Shark, Eric Edelstein (We Bare Bears) as Daddy Shark, Debra Wilson (MADtv) as Grandma Shark and Patrick Warburton (Seinfeld) as Grandpa Shark.
Pinkfong Baby Shark launched on YouTube in November 2015 and took the world by storm, becoming the world’s first video ever to hit 10 billion views on YouTube, making it the platform’s all-time most-viewed video. With music, characters, story and dance all combined together, the song certified RIAA Diamond and 11x platinum single for selling over 11 million units in the U.S., and spawned a viral phenomenon, #BabySharkChallenge, generating over 1 million cover videos around the globe.
Baby Shark’s Big Movie! is produced by Nickelodeon Animation in Burbank, Calif., with production overseen by Eryk Casemiro, EVP Nickelodeon Animation, Global Series Content.
Baby Shark’s Big Show! is executive produced by Gary “Doodles” DiRaffaele (Breadwinners) and Tommy Sica (Breadwinners), with Whitney Ralls (My Little Pony: Equestria Girls) serving as co-executive producer. The series is produced by Nickelodeon Animation in Burbank, Calif., with production overseen by Casemiro.
Nickelodeon is whipping up epic culinary adventures in the brand-new series The Tiny Chef Show, premiering Friday, September 9, at 11:30 a.m. (ET/PT). Produced in association with Imagine Kids+Family and Nickelodeon Animation, the series follows the titular social media sensation and herbivore as he introduces and cooks new recipes for the world’s tiniest plant-based dishes from his tree-stump home.
The Tiny Chef Show will premiere on Nick’s preschool platforms in the U.S., as well as Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. channels internationally. Paramount Consumer Products will lead consumer products licensing for Tiny Chef worldwide in partnership with Imagine Kids+Family.
In Season 1 of The Tiny Chef Show, Chef welcomes a variety of celebrity guests — Kristen Bell, Sky & Ocean Brown, Tabitha Brown, Josh Dela Cruz, Josh Gad, Liza Koshy, RZA, That Girl Lay Lay and Keith L. Williams — to talk food, friendship and more.
Each episode will feature RuPaul as the voice announcer and showcase different ingredients, foods and dishes by Chef with the help from his friends: Olly, a practical and excitable robot who works closely with Chef assisting in the preparation of each episode’s dish; Ruby, Chef’s beloved caterpillar pet, friend and confidant with a boundless appetite; Henry, a loyal and loving snail who moves slowly around the stump and reveals Chef’s Dish of the Day; and Stump Band, the show’s very own house band consisting of a fork, spatula and spoon.
In the season premiere, “Pancakes/S’Mores,”Tiny Chef makes pancakes but loses his confidence when he breaks his special lucky pancake flipping spatula, but with some help from his friends, Chef whips up something new for a campout and overcomes his fear of the dark.
The Tiny Chef Show is executive produced by Imagine Entertainment Executive Chairmen Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, Imagine Kids+Family President Stephanie Sperber, as well as Kristen Bell, Morgan Sackett and Tiny Chef creators Rachel Larsen, Adam Reid and cinematographer Ozlem Akturk for Tiny Chef Productions.
Production of The Tiny Chef Show for Nickelodeon Animation is overseen by Eryk Casemiro, Executive Vice President, Nickelodeon Animation, Global Series Content and by Elly Kramer for Imagine Kids+Family. Jen Pace and Kate Crownover serve as Nickelodeon’s Executives in Charge of Production for the series.
***UPDATED Thursday afternoon with title announcement and title treatment reveal.***
Cinesite has been awarded animation work for the highly anticipated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles CG reimagining from Nickelodeon. Production is underway with top talent being recruited by Cinesite Vancouver, which will be attending SIGGRAPH next week — artists and technicians can register here and apply for opportunities at cinesite.com.careers.
The film, which is due to hit theaters in 2023, is produced by Point Grey Pictures’ Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, directed by Jeff Rowe (The Mitchells vs. The Machines) and co-directed by Kyler Spears (Amphibia). Cinesite’s crew is led by Barbara Zelinski (producer) and Chris Kazmier (VFX supervisor).
Following Cinesite’s announcement Thursday morning, Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies unveiled the movie’s official title treatment with the official name Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. To mark the occasion, an exclusive mural went up in New York City, letting fans know that they can reconnect with Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michealangelo one year from today when their new CGI-animated adventure hits screens on August 4, 2023.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is the latest animation project to start production at Cinesite following Paramount Pictures’ recently released Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hankand MGM’s Addams Family franchise. The studio also remains in production on Aniventure’s upcoming film Hitpig based on characters from Pulitzer Prize-winner Berkeley Breathed’s Pete & Pickles as well as the animated series Iwájú for Disney+.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with Cinesite on the next-level reimagining of the franchise” says Mark Bakshi, EVP of Paramount Pictures Animation.
Cinesite’s Chief Animation Operating Officer Brad Wald said, “We couldn’t be more excited about our partnership with Nickelodeon and their trust in us as a leading animation studio to re-boot the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. We’re looking forward to welcoming A‐class talent from across Canada and beyond to join our growing crew in Vancouver!”
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles feature franchise has accumulated $1.15 billion across six movies from three studios since 1990. The last two movies, released by Paramount and Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes in 2014 and 2016, were live action and together accounted for $730.6 million.
Leading VFX & animation studio DNEG (dneg.com) announced the promotion of Chas Jarrett to Creative Director, taking the reigns from Paul Franklin, who will continue as a VFX COnsultanto Based out of the company’s London studio and working closely with Josh Jaggars, Group President, VFX & Stereo, Jarrett will partner with directors and filmmakers to leverage DNEG’s creative capabilities and innovative technology in service of their projects, while helping to maintain and build upon the company’s strong working relationships with its studio clients. Jarrett will also nurture and support the progression and development of DNEG’s talented artists and represent DNEG’s creative teams at executive level.
“DNEG has an incredible brand and reputation in our industry. Part of my new responsibilities as Creative Director will be to ensure that DNEG maintains its position as the go-to house for incredibly realistic, huge scale visual effects, while also expanding our capabilities to bring new and enhanced specialisms and technologies to our filmmaking partners,” said Jarrett. “Equally important to me is the nurturing of our teams of highly skilled creatives across the globe. I will be focused on ensuring that our creative teams have the structure and support necessary to continue delivering the amazing, industry-leading work that DNEG is known for.”
The promotion provides further executive level support for DNEG’s strategic direction and worldwide growth initiative as the company targets an expanded international headcount benchmark of 10,000 employees within the next 12 months. DNEG’s growth plan also explores further opportunities in content development and production, and in adjacent markets, including gaming and metaverse applications.
Jarrett, who joined DNEG as Senior VFX Supervisor in 2019, has a wealth of creative and technical experience earned over 20 years in the entertainment industry. This includes 13 years as a client-side production VFX supervisor with credits such as Disney’s live-action Aladdin, Logan, Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes films and Sweeney Todd for Tim Burton. Most recently, he was Production VFX Supervisor on the movie adaptation of the highly successful video game franchise Uncharted
for Sony Pictures.
Jarrett was a co-founder of boutique VFX house BlueBolt VFX, and previously served on the executive committee of MPC. He is also an active software developer, currently working with an in-house team at DNEG on the development of xSTUDIO, a new playback and review tool which DNEG intends to release as an open source project later this year.
Janet Yang [ph: Troy Harvey / AMPAS]
Producer Janet Yang was elected President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (oscars.org) by the organization’s Board of Governors. Yang is beginning her first term as President and her second term as a Governor-at-Large, a position for which she was nominated by the sitting Academy President and elected by the Board of Governors.
“Janet is a tremendously dedicated and strategic leader who has an incredible record of service at the Academy. She has been instrumental in launching and elevating several Academy initiatives on membership recruitment, governance and equity, diversity, and inclusion,” noted Academy CEO Bill Kramer. “I am thrilled that she is taking on the esteemed role of Academy President and look forward to working closely with her on our shared vision to serve our membership, celebrate the collaborative arts and sciences of motion pictures, and inspire the next generation of filmmakers.”
Yang’s extensive film producing credits include The Joy Luck Club, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Zero Effect, High Crimes, Dark Matter, Shanghai Calling and the Oscar-nominated animated feature Over the Moon. She won an Emmy for the HBO film Indictment: The McMartin Trial. A member of the Academy’s Producers Branch since 2002, Yang most recently served on the Board as Vice President and chair of the Membership Committee and prior to that, the Membership and Governance Committee. She is also co-chair of the Academy’s Asian Affinity Group.
Further, Donna Gigliotti (VP/Secretary; chari, Governance Committee), Larry Karaszewski (VP; chair, History & Preservaction), David Linde (VP/Treasurer; chair, Finance), Isis Mussenden (VP; chair, Museum) and Wynn P. Thomas (VP; chair, Education & Outreach) were re-elected as officers. It will be the first officer stint for Teri E. Dorman (VP; chair, Membership), Lynette Howell Taylor (VP; chair, Awards) and Kim Taylor-Coleman (VP; chair, Equity & Inclusion).
Frederik L. Schodt
Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (CXC; cartooncrossroadscolumbus.org), the international showcase for cartoon art, announced that the second annual Tom Spurgeon Award will go to writer, translator and manga scholar Frederik L. Schodt. The Spurgeon Award honors those who have made substantial contributions to the field of comics, but are not primarily cartoonists. The award is named after Tom Spurgeon, a writer, historian and champion of comic arts who served as CXC’s founding executive director. The award is open to retailers, distributors, journalists, editors, publishers and others.
“I have spent most of my life doing work related to currents of thought flowing between Japan and North America,” said Schodt, “With a particular interest in manga, writing about them, doing translations of what I consider worthy works, giving talks on manga, and interpreting for Japanese and North American artists.”
Schodt is a pivotal figure who helped bring manga to the West by way of his translations, research and writing. Schodt had a close relationship with Osamu Tezuka, a cultural giant known as the “God of Manga.” Schodt translated Tezuka’s Astro Boy for U.S. publication in 2002 and translated the 900+ page manga biography, The Osamu Tezuka Story, in 2016. Schodt’s translations of manga also include works such as Henry Yoshitaka Kiyama’s 1931 The Four Immigrants manga, Tezuka’s Phoenix (with Dadakai and Jared Cook) and Yoshiyuki Tomino’s Mobile Suit Gundam trilogy of novels. In recent years, along with Beth Cary, he has worked on translating collections of animator Hayao Miyazaki’s writings. His other best known works on manga include Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga (1996), and The Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the Manga/Anime Revolution (2007).
Agnès Lecuyer
The PGS Company (pgsentertainment.com) announced the appointment of Agnès Lecuyer as Head– Legal & Business Affairs and Charisma Kerr as Finance Coordinator. Both will work with Philippe & Guillaume Soutter, Co-Founders of PGS. The recent hires come on the back of PGS providing remote-only work opportunities in the company. Lecuyer is based in Toulon, France, while Kerr is based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Charisma Kerr
Lecuyer is a veteran with more than 12 years of experience in the entertainment industry. She has previously worked with SND, a subsidiary of the M6 Group, and will oversee legal and business affairs for PGS companies in her new role. She aims to administer, implement and optimize legal processes to ensure effective collaboration.
Kerr, who has over 14 years of experience in the industry, has previously worked with key industry firms such as PWC, RSM and The Standard Bank Group. She will oversee administrative and operational tasks for the company.
Jeff Wolfe
Creative studio Nice Shoes (niceshoes.com) announced the hire of Jeff Wolfe as Managing Director of Immersive. Wolfe will be dedicated to solidifying and expanding its immersive offering, educating clients on its varied applications and establishing the company as the go-to studio in this realm. “There’s no limit to what immersive can entail, and I’m really excited to explore that with my colleagues and clients, finding the right tools that suit them to create some truly mind-blowing content,” Wolfe commented.
With over two decades of experience, Wolfe started off in film production before moving into post production and high-end VFX. He has worked with some of the best in the business, ranging from agencies such as R/GA, FCB and 72andSunny, to production companies and creative studios including Method Studios, RadicalMedia and Nathan Love. Wolfe’s collaborations with high-profile clients include short form content for Apple, Facebook and Google, as well as longform Hollywood blockbusters and features from the Marvel Universe. Most recently, Wolfe worked with RadicalMedia and Illuminarium Experiences to bring to market their first three major immersive shows: Wild, Georgia O’Keeffe and Space.
Isao Moriyasu [ph: DeNA]
Thirdverse Inc. (thirdverse.io), a leading virtual reality and Web3 game development and distribution company, announced that Isao Moriyasu has joined the company as the Executive Producer of Web3 Games. Moriyasu was the former CEO of DeNA Co., Ltd., where he grew the company into one of Japan’s leading IT providers in mobile games. He will leverage his more than 20 years of experience in the technology and gaming industries to help further drive Thirdverse’s growth in the metaverse and Web3.
During Moriyasu’s tenure for 10 years as CEO of DeNA, he raised the company’s market cap to $6 billion, built the wildly successful social mobile gaming platform Mobage that engaged 30 million players worldwide, and acquired globally renowned IP.
Thirdverse is dedicated to realizing a “VR x Metaverse” and has been developing VR games in Japan and the U.S. since 2020. In addition to its world-class VR game development capabilities, the company is partnering up with global leaders such as Animoca Brands to bring cutting-edge know-how in Web3. “Thirdverse is building a world-class company in the VR, Metaverse and Web3 markets. As more players discover the thrill of immersive gaming experiences, Thirdverse is uniquely positioned to serve these audiences with superior quality content,” said Moriyasu. “I look forward to applying my experience in the gaming industry to help Thirdverse continue its push for innovation.”
The new fully-CG-animated Garfield movie will be serving up saucy feline funnies in theaters in under two years, with the news that global distributor (exc. China) Sony Pictures has set a post-Valentine’s date of February 16, 2024.
The pic will voice star Jurassic World‘s Chris Pratt (The LEGO Movie, Onward, Untitled Super Mario Bros. Movie) as Garfield and screen legend Samuel L. Jackson(Incredibles, Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank) as Garfield’s father, Vic, a new character.
The movie is based on the classic comic strip by Jim Davis, who sold the rights to financer/producer Alcon Entertainment (Blade Runner: Black Lotus) and will serve as executive producer. DNEG (Ron’s Gone Wrong) is producing the animation.
Mark Dindal is directing Garfield from a script by his The Emperor’s New Groove partner David Reynolds. Bridget McMeel and Craig Sost are exec producers alongside Davis; producers are John Cohen and Steven P. Wegner, Alcon’s Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove, and DNEG Animation’s CEO Namit Malhotra and President Tom Jacomb.
***This interview originally appeared in the 35th Anniversary Issue of Animation Magazine (June-July ’22, No. 321)***
Recently, we had the chance to catch up with animation veteran Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, the trailblazing founder of the influential management and production company The Gotham Group. The Emmy-nominated producer of acclaimed projects such as the Aardman TV series Creature Comforts, The Maze Runner movie trilogy and Stargirl is currently producing Henry Selick’s upcoming Netflix movie Wendell & Wild which is slated for an October 2022 release following its TIFF premiere:
Ellen Goldsmith-Vein: We’ve worked with the brilliant Henry Selick for over 20 years, but it took years to get him to return my phone call! I was leaving messages on his home phone and at his Colossal office when he was working on MTV spots. His auteur status was always apparent and it’s been a genuine highlight of my career to encourage and support his cinematic vision. His idea for Wendell & Wild,like Henry himself, was a true original with the potential to attract a wide audience. That’s exactly the type of project that we as a company champion as dealmakers and producers. When Jordan Peele came on board as a producer, co-writer and star opposite Keegan-Michael Key, it just seemed as if this idea had reached its fullest expression. We brought the concept to Netflix, who saw this film as the perfect debut project for a creative partnership with Henry.
What do you love about working with Henry Selick?
The phrase “creative genius” is really overused these days, but honestly, Henry fits the bill. He is a singular artist with magnificent vision and a true master of the stop-motion medium. Henry also has the ability to attract brilliant artists and a great cast to his projects, and Wendell & Wild is a perfect example of that.
Can you tell us a bit about other animated projects that you’re working on?
We are working on an animated series called The Search For WondLa for Apple TV+ based on the sci-fi fantasy series of books of the same name by Tony DiTerlizzi. It tells the story of a young girl raised underground who is whisked into an adventure when she goes above-ground for the first time. In addition, we are working on a couple of stop-motion projects based on high profile literary material which we have optioned, and are rebooting a very special series, also stop motion! Trust me when I tell you that these projects will reunite some of the great artists, writers and actors who we’ve worked with in the past. Since we haven’t announced them yet, I need to keep the titles under wraps!
How has The Gotham Group changed and evolved to meet with the specific demands and climate of creating entertainment in 2022?
We have been very lucky to have deep relationships in the publishing community and have been able to identify and option incredible books, articles, graphic novels and comics. Our strong taste has solidified us as respected producers of great film and television projects while also continuing to maintain our position as one of the top suppliers of high level, critically acclaimed and award-winning IP to the industry. Additionally, we recently launched an ‘Emerging Technologies’ division which has been a thrilling adventure as we dive head-first into blockchain-based media. We are constantly exploring new pathways and opportunities to build original film and television projects.
The partners at Gotham — Peter McHugh, Julie Kane-Ritsch, Lindsay Williams, Jeremy Bell, Eric Robinson, Lee Stollman, Rich Green and Matt Schichtman — have been instrumental in building the vision for the company. I’m incredibly proud of the fact that we were the first to wade into the animation business 30 years ago when no one gave animation talent a second thought, and of the position we hold in the animation business as the true leaders in supplying talent and content across all platforms. That being said, our best days are still ahead of us!
It was and continues to be the opportunity to help move careers along and to help people achieve their dreams and make great movies and television shows. When I founded The Gotham Group in 1993, no one represented animation talent. No one was rushing out to sign animation writers, directors, character designers, illustrators or children’s book authors and illustrators. While most other reps were chasing actors and directors, we were signing animation talent, content creators and studios! Take a look at the top grossing movies from the past 20 years and you will see that the majority of those films are animated. Many of the series that have produced hundreds of episodes and are still in production are animated shows: The Simpsons, Family Guy and Fairly Odd Parents are just a few examples.
What are some of the animated films and TV projects that have made a big impact on you?
That’s a really tough question, but here goes in no particular order: Wendell & Wild(!), Coraline, Shrek, Madagascar, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Toy Story, Monster House, Mary and Max, Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run, Triplets of Belleville.
What is your take on the fast-changing world of animation as we all witness the unpredictable ups and downs in this industry?
The modes by which families ingest entertainment will continue to change and expand and we will continue to have to be nimble enough, brave enough and smart enough to embrace all of those pathways to reach our audiences. What won’t change, I think, is the immersive and magical experience that animation provides for a viewer. There is a dream-like quality to animation that allows us to depart from reality a bit and enter the realm of pure imagination.
As we continue to acquire and develop stories with significant audience potential, we’re also embracing newer technologies in animation. Production has already begun on the first project from our newly launched Emerging Technologies division, the fully Web3/Native adult animated series Alien to Me, in partnership with Connor Kerrigan and Melbourne-based animation studio Pixel’s Andrew Goldsmith and Monique Mulcahy. We’re putting significant energy and resources into this endeavor. I’m thrilled to be part of the band of magicians that create these experiences and think the medium’s greatest days are yet to come
Finally, what kind of advice can you give newbies who want to work in animation?
First of all, I say YAY! The more the merrier! Like anything else worth having in life, pursuing a career in animation can be challenging and you need rigorous dedication and a heightened work ethic to crack its entrance barriers — skills that you will ultimately deploy throughout your career. One of the great things about animation, though, is the sense of community. Although it has become a big “business,” it is still a family and people work together, support each other, and often cross paths throughout their careers over and over again on projects. People are always willing to help each other out and support each other when they need help on a project. One other piece of advice: Must Love Comic-Con!
Big Nateis back and better than ever! Nine all-new episodes of the Paramount+ original animated series will drop on Friday, August 19 exclusively on the service. From Nickelodeon Animation, the upcoming batch of new episodes continues Nate’s adventures as he follows his dream to become a singer, saves a pregnant lizard and takes spring break to the next level!
Big Nate follows the riotous exploits of Nate Wright, a sixth-grade kid who has a never-ending need to prove his awesomeness to the world. Whether he’s dealing with disasters at home or detention at school, Nate is no stranger to a challenge. Luckily, he’s able to express himself through the world of cartoons that he creates. Charming, mischievous and a magnet for misadventure, Nate always finds a way to turn trouble into fun.
In addition to the new batch of episodes dropping later this month, 10 more episodes have been ordered to the previously announced second season, which is set to premiere in 2023. In the show’s 20-episode second season, the hilarious and heart-filled hijinks that define the series will dive deeper into the backstories of Nate’s friends, introducing Nate’s grandparents and more.
Big Nate
The voice talent for Big Nate includes Ben Giroux as Nate Wright, Dove Cameron as Ellen Wright, Rob Delaney as Martin Wright, Bryce Charles as Dee Dee Holloway, Daniel MK Cohen as Francis Pope, Arnie Pantoja as Teddy Ortiz, Charlie Schlatter as Chad Applewhite, Kevin Michael Richardson as Principal Nichols, Carolyn Hennesy as Mrs. Godfrey, Nik Dodani as Randy, Betsy Sodaro as Kim, Lisa Kay Jennings as Gina, Chandni Parekh as Jenny, Todd Haberkorn as Artur, Ryan Garcia as Mr. Rosa, Mike Rivkin as Mr. Galvin and Chester Rushing as Zeff.
Big Nate is executive produced by Mitch Watson (All Hail King Julien) and John Cohen (The Angry Birds Movie) and produced by Amy McKenna (Beware the Batman), with author-creator Lincoln Peirce serving as consultant throughout development and production. Bridget McMeel is co-producer and Jim Mortensen is supervising producer.
Minions: The Rise of Gru and Lightyear have arrived on Vudu, and as a special treat, fans can get free access to exclusive clips for both films. Check out a behind-the-scenes clip of Steve Carell (Gur), as well as an extended nine-minute preview of Buzz’s origin story starring the voices of Chris Evans, Keke Palmer, Taika Waititi and Peter Sohn as robot cat Sox.
Animationinstitut founder Albrecht Ade was oen of the distinguished guests of the 20th anniversary celebration. [ph: Dominique Brewing]
For a truly epic family movie night, Vudu is providing a guide to fun activities, games and crafts for a night the whole household will never forget! Families can join the Minions on a trip back in time with Vudu’s activity sheets that include instructions for making a Minions pet rock and how to create an origami ninja star, minions badges, minion popsicle stick puppets, as well as access to special coloring sheets, a special banana split recipe, “admit one” tickets to your own living room with reserved seating on the couch and more!
(Note: Parents should read through activity instructions fully before starting, additional supplies may be needed.)
For fans interested in spreading a little Minions madness, Vudu is offering seven unique gift card designs available for purchase (check them out). Plus, for a limited time, fans purchasing Minions: The Rise of Gru on Vudu will get a discount code good for 50% off the new Exploding Minions family game, the Minions-themed version of the popular Exploding Kittens, featuring new cards, illustrations and banana-fueled hilarity. Here’s how to play the game and here are details on the limited time offer.
From Universal’s Illumiantion Entertainment, Minions: The Rise of Gru tags along as teenage Gru (voiced by Steve Carrell) joins forces with Kevin, Stuart and Bob (Pierre Coffin) to defeat the Vicious 6 in an adventure featuring spectacular action and the franchise’s signature subversive humor. The star-powered voice cast features Taraji P. Henson, Michelle Yeoh, RZA, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Lucy Lawless, Dolph Lundgren, Danny Trejo, Russell Brand, Julie Andrews and Alan Arkin.
Disney-Pixar’s Lightyear is the definitive origin story of Buzz Lightyear (Chris Evans), the hero who inspired the toy. The sci-fi action-adventure follows the legendary space ranger on an intergalactic adventure alongside ambitious recruits Izzy (Keke Palmer), Mo (Taika Waititi) and Darby (Dale Soules), and his robot companion Sox (Peter Sohn). As this motley crew embark on their toughest mission yet, they must learn to work as a team to escape the evil Zurg (James Brolin) and his dutiful robot army who are never far behind.
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