We use cookies to enhance your browsing experience, serve personalised ads or content, and analyse our traffic. By clicking "Accept All", you consent to our use of cookies.
Customise Consent Preferences
We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.
The cookies that are categorised as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ...
Always Active
Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.
No cookies to display.
Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.
No cookies to display.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
No cookies to display.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyse the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
No cookies to display.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customised advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyse the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.
Marvel Animation’s sneak peek at D23 on Saturday offered many intriguing updates on highly-anticipated series. The session featured a panel including Marvel’s Head of Streaming, Television & Animation Brad Winderbaum, and What If…? co-helmer Bryan Andrews.
Takeaways from the closed-door presentation included:
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (Disney+)
Following its tease at the Marvel Studios previews in December, the project (formerly titled Spider-Man: Freshman Year) was discussed by series creator Jeff Trammell, who introduced voice stars Hudson Thames (Peter Parker) and Colman Domingo (Norman Osborn), who watches over Peter in this version of the tale with questionable intent.
Other characters confirmed to appear in the show at the panel include Doctor Octopus, Doctor Conners and Doctor Strange; the extraterrestrial parasites known as the Symbiote will also play a role. Early footage also shows Peter meeting Nico Minoru.
Attendees got an exclusive look at the four-episode mini-series, created by Zeb Wells, which showed Shang-Chi, Katy Chen and Xu Wenwu confronting a horde of the undead before time jumping five years into the future, where the zombie apocalypse has left the world a Mad Max-like wasteland.
Eyes of Wakanda (Disney+)
Also revealed at the December studio lot previews, the show will explore Wakandan history through tales of the brave warriors who traveled the world to collect vibranium artifacts. A quick first-look glimpse revealed a 3D animation style for the show, which will also be a four-part mini-series.
X-Men ’97 (Disney+)
Fans got a little tidbit about the second season of this critically acclaimed throwback series. The panel revealed that Season 2 will feature new outfits based on Grant Morrison’s suit designs. Footage also showed Magneto on trial in the upcoming story arc.
What If…? (Disney+)
Marvel confirmed that the speculative standalone will end after Season 3, which will feature the return of Oscar Isaac as Moon Knight as well as appearances from Ironheart and White Vision.
On top of the previously revealed episodes where Nebula joins the Nova Corps and Happy Hogan saves Christmas, one of the S3 episodes will show Captain America lead a team of mech pilots in a battle against Gamma Monsters.
The 35th season of Matt Groening’s beloved The Simpsons will debut on Disney+ on October 2, it was announced at the D23 Disney fan event in Anaheim on Saturday. The multi-award winning series will feature 18 new episodes this season. Conan O’Brien, John Cena, Tom Hanks and Danny Devito will be among the new guest voices this season.
During “The Simpsons” panel, Matt Groening, Matt Selman, Al Jean, Mike Price, Brian Kelley, David Silverman and Nancy Cartwright also revealed that four never-before-seen episodes of the series will be made available exclusively to Disney+ subscribers. This includes a special Christmas-themed double episode premiering December 17, timed to the 35th anniversary of the series’ original Christmas special. The four exclusive episodes, titled “The Past and the Furious,” “Yellow Planet,” and “O C’mon All Ye Faithful” — a Christmas double-episode — will debut in the months ahead on Disney+.
Disney+ will also be home to an exclusive new Halloween-themed Simpsons short. In addition to 35 seasons of The Simpsons, Disney+ is also home to “The Simpsons Movie” and more than 10 shorts featuring the Simpsons family.
It has been a very busy weekend for the Disney/Pixar teams. Fans were treated to a lot of news, sneak peeks, trailers and star-studded presentations at the first day of the D23 fan event on Friday. The three-hour-long showcase offered news and reveals about the studio’s upcoming animated features Disney’s Moana 2 and Frozen 3, Pixar’s Zootopia 2 and Toy Story 5, the upcoming Inside Out TV series, and the animated/”live-action” versions of Mufasa: The Lion King, Snow White and Stitch, among others.
A new trailer reveal for the studio’s Nov. 27 release Moana 2 kicked off the packed fan event in Anaheim. The presentation received an enthusiastic response when stars Auli‘i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson—together on the D23 stage for the first time ever—shared it with the audience. Cravalho wowed the audience with a live performance of one of the film’s new songs, “We’re Back,” with dancers and drummers from Nonosina Polynesia under the direction of Tiana Liufau—who contributed animation reference choreography to Moana and Johnson led the audience in a rousing “chee hoo!” chant.
Also revealed were additional voice cast, including returning stars Rachel House (Moana’s Grandma, Tala), Temuera Morrison (Moana’s father, Chief Tui) and Nicole Scherzinger (Moana’s mother, Sina). The film also features the voices of Hualālai Chung, David Fane and Rose Matafeo as Moana’s new crew members Moni, Kele and Loto, respectively. Awhimai Fraser voices mysterious new character Matangi; Gerald Ramsey plays Moana’s ancestor, Tautai Vasa; and Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda lends her voice to Moana’s adoring and adorable little sister, Simea.
Pixar chief Pete Docter greeted a cheerful crown and revealed some exciting news about the studio’s blockbuster sequel, Inside Out 2, which has grossed over $1.561 billion worldwide. Not surprisingly, the Emmeryville, Cal. Company is working on a Disney+ spinoff series called Dream Productions. Docter said the movie is set in the studio where Riley’s dream are made every night and shared a brief clip where Joy gave a tour of the dream studio with all the emotions hard at work to create a big dream for the young girl. The four-episode show is created by Paula Persimmon (voice of Paula Pell), written and directed by Mike Jones and produced by Jaclyn Simon, and features the voices of Richard Ayoade, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Alli Maki, Kensington Tallman, Liza Lapira, Tony Hale, Lewis Black and Phyllis Smith.
Cowboy Woody and the rest of his pals will be coming back to the big screen! Docter also revealed that Toy Story 5 is in the works, and writer-director Andrew Stanton (Wall-E, Finding Nemo) is coming back to helm the new project. This time around, it’s Toy meets Tech when Buzz, Woody, Jessie and the rest of the gang’s jobs get exponentially harder as they go head to head with this all-new threat to playtime. Co-directed by McKenna Harris and produced by Jessica Choi, the movie opens in theaters on June 19, 2026.
Toy Story 5 (Pixar)
Oscar-winning director Brad Bird is also returning to the storied studio to direct a third outing of the studio’s superhero family, The Incredibles. The Oscar-winning director will direct Incredibles 3 after he wraps his Skydance animated features, Ray Gunn. The first two Incredibles movies grossed $1.87 billion worldwide.
Following Toy Story 5, Pixar will be releasing a new movie called Hoppers, featuring the voices of Jon Hamm, Bobby Moynihan and Piper Curda in March of 2026. The original pic will introduce Mabel, an animal lover who seizes an opportunity to use new technology to ‘hop’ her consciousness into a life-like robotic animal: an adorable beaver. The filim is directed by Daniel Chong and produced by Nicole Paradis Grindle
“Hoppers” will premiere in theaters in spring of 2026 (Pixar)
Pixar also revealed some news about Elio, it’s summer of 2025 movie, which was originally slated for 2024, but was delayed due to the industry strikes of 2023. Zoe Saldanha has now joined the voice cast of the original movie, which follows a young boy who finds himself beamed up to an interplanetary organization where he’s selected as Earth’s official ambassador to other galaxies. The synopsis reads, “Completely unprepared for that kind of pressure, Elio must form new bonds with eccentric aliens, survive a series of formidable trials and somehow discover who he is truly meant to be!” The studio’s 29th movie is directed by Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi andAdrian Molina, and features the voices of America Ferrera (Elio’s mom), Jameela Jamil (Ambassadro Questa), Brad Garrett (Ambassador Grigon) and Jonas Kibreab (Elio). Disney will release Elio on June 13, 2025.
Elio (2025)
Pete Docter revealed the official launch date of Pixar’s first original series Win or Lose which begins streaming exclusively on Disney+ on Dec. 6, 2024. Directed, written and executive produced by Carrie Hobson and Michael Yates, and produced by David Lally, the new series reveals what it feels like to be in the shoes of eight different characters—the insecure kids, their helicopter parents, even a lovesick umpire—as they prepare for a championship softball game. Will Forte lends his voice to the coach.
Win or Lose premieres on Disney+ this December.
Disney shared a clip from Zootopia 2, which is scheduled to hit theaters on Nov. 26, 2025. The film’s star Ginnifer Goodwin introduced the clip, noting, “The Bunny is back! Zootopia’ is my happy place and I am so ready for the world to see this crazy new adventure.” The sequel to the Oscar-winning 2016 movie will see the return of Mr Big, Clawhauser and Flash the Sloth. It will also include a “creepy, slithery, highly venomous viper” named Gary, which is voiced by Ke Huy Quan (Indiana Jones, Loki)J. Jared Bush wrote and directs the sequel, which will feature the voices of Jason Bateman and Ginnifer Goodwin as Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps, who are investigating a new case. The movie is written by and produced by Jennifer Lee and Yvett Merino.
Disney’s CCO Jennifer Lee was also on hand to treat fans to a beautiful new concept art from the upcoming Frozen III Created by artist Britney Lee, the image showed Elsa on a white Horse and Anna and Olaf trailing her on a brown stag as an ominous dark figure wearing a Viking helmet watches them from a distance. The hugely popular Frozen movies have grossed over $2.76 billion worldwide and won two Oscars. “Coming out of Frozen 2, we still have some questions. A lot of questions, actually,” said Lee. “Now you see why we need two films to tell the story!” Hmmm, sounds like Frozen IV may also be in the works. No letting go, indeed!
Image courtesy of Disney
Disney also revealed a new trailer for its live-action hybrid movie,Snow White (2025) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbiPcMCz0Ek
And here’s a sneak peek at the live-action/hybrid movie Lilo & Stitch (which comes out in the summer of 2025) (Image courtesy of IGN). Directed by Dean Fleischer Camp (Marcel the Shell with Shoes On), the movie stars Tia Carrere, Billy Magnussen, Zack Galiafianakis and Courtney B. Vance.
Stitch sneak peek at D23 (image via IGN)
Disney on Broadway also celebrated its 30th anniversary with a thrilling medley of performances and exclusive announcements from its hit stage musicals. Highlights included The Lion King, Aladdin and Herculeswhich will open in London’s West End in summer 2025. The event also featured news about The Greatest Showman,currently in development for a stage musical adaptation, and Frozen,which was filmed on stage and will premiere on Disney+ in 2025. Samantha Barks, who will star as Elsa, dazzled the audience with a powerful rendition of “Let It Go.”
Among the trailers shared for live-action Marvel and LucasFilm shows at D23 were new teasers for Agatha All Along and The Skeleton Crew. See below:
The Art of El Tigre: The Adventure of Manny Rivera
Revisit the hit Nickelodeon series with this bilingual book (English and Spanish), featuring sketches, early character designs and interviews with creators Jorge R. Gutierrez and Sandra Equihua as well as key animators and artists. Written by Chris McDonnell (Adventure Time: The Art of Ooo, The Art of Invader Zim).
[Abrams | $40]
The Art of The Imaginary
For fans who can’t wait for a local printing, the Japanese-language exploration of Studio Ponoc’s fantastical new Netflix feature is available from specialty retailers. The book is loaded with production art, including image boards, character design sketches and background paintings. Gallery Nucleus also has a limited number of copies signed by director Yoshiyuki Momose and producer Yoshiaki Nishimura ($85).
Rankin/Bass’s enchanting 1982 fantasy receives a high-def update in this new set, remastering the 2D animation with a 4K transfer of the 35mm interpositive. Featuring the voices of Mia Farrow, Jeff Bridges, Christopher Lee and more, the magical adventure comes bundled with making-of featurette, animated storyboards, a Q&A and brand-new profile of author/screenwriter Peter S. Beagle. Fans who order through Shout! Factory will get an exclusive poster while supplies last.
[Shout! Factory | $35 | Aug. 20]
Drawing for Nothing
Celebrate the unseen creativity of canceled animated features with this free digital compendium chronicling the fates of axed titles like Me and My Shadow, B.O.O., Dreaming Machine, Larrikins, Dragon’s Lair and more.
Billed as a self-help guide to anyone interested in an animation career, author Joshua Pinker leverages his experience as an animation student, intern, staffer and freelancer to present a comprehensive how-to to help you survive and thrive in a challenging industry. The physical and bonus editions include a Q&A section with even more advice from working animators.
The pioneering Spanish-Chinese co-pro makes its stateside DVD debut this month. Based on the fantasy novel by Carole Wilkinson, the CG feature follows a girl named Ping who goes on a quest to save an imperiled dragon and all its kind. Featuring the voices of Bill Nighy and newcomer Mayalinee Griffits, the movie is directed by Salvador Simó.
[Shout! | $20 | Aug. 27]
Popeye the Sailor: the 1960s TV Cartoons (Updated)
Originally released in 2022, the new edition includes detailed origins of several episodes based on Thimble Theatre comics by E.C. Segar in author Fred M. Grandinetti’s hand-picked “best of” section.
[BearManor Media | $35 HC | $25 PB | $10 ebook]
【Oshi No Ko】Season 1 Collector’s Edition
One of the most popular new anime series streaming in the U.S. this year gets a deluxe SteelBook release this month. Produced by Doga Kobo and directed by Daisuke Hiaramik & Chao Nekotomi, the YA show follows a doctor and patient who die and are reborn as twins heirs to a famous J-pop idol — tale as old as time! The set includes a third bonus disc with ~100 minutes of material, including a making-of featurette.
[Sentai | $130 CE | $70 BD]
Neopets Tabletop RPG
With the popular digital pet platform celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the crew at Geekify launched a Kickstarter for this officially endorsed project on July 12. Built on an easy to learn d20 system, the game lets you create a custom Neopets character (50 species to choose from), form a party, explore the far corners of Neopia and revel in nostalgia as you go on quests, solve puzzles and forge your destiny.
Netflix has revealed more information about the source of this week’s flurry of leaks from its upcoming animation slate, which saw blurred and watermarked full episodes of Arcane Season 2, Terminator Zero, Dan Da Dan and the Ranma ½ reboot, as well as the feature films Spellbound and Plankton: The Movie, spread through 4Chan and X via piracy links.
As previously reported, anime outlet Crunchyroll was also affected with the Season 3 premiere of Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-; the platform is also a streaming partner for Science SARU’s Dan Da Dan.
The anime feature Mononoke the Movie: Phantom in the Rain, which was also leaked in full, is not clearly linked to either platform as international distribution plans have not been announced. The movie based on the popular Mononoke series premiered in Japan in July.
The third season of live-action webtoon adaptation Heartstopper was also caught up in the spill.
In a statement provided to IGN, a Netflix spokesperson confirmed: “One of our post-production partners has been compromised and footage from several of our titles has unfortunately leaked online. Our team is aggressively taking action to have it taken down.” Most link-sharing posts have been scrubbed, although screenshots of the pirate site URLs are still circulating, IGN reports.
Again, the quality of the leaked video is said to be quite poor, at a low resolution and watermarked. Fans excited to watch these shows and movies should mark their calendars in order to fully enjoy them as they were meant to be watched:
Terminator Zero – Netflix – August 29
Ranma ½ – Nippon TV / Netflix – October 5
Ep. 1 World Premiere at Anime NYC, Aug. 24
Dan Da Dan – Netflix – October 2024
Dan Da Dan: First Encounter (Eps. 1-3) dub premier at Anime NYC; theatrical release through GKIDS, Sept. 13
Genndy Tartakovsky’s adult animated feature film Fixed is now a stray on the distribution streets. Produced by Sony Pictures Animation, the doggy danglers comedy will no longer be released in theaters by Warner Bros. Pictures and is reverting back to Sony to find a new release partner. A possible new home for the project is Netflix, which has picked up previous SPA features Vivo and Oscar-nominated The Mitchells vs. the Machines.
The news was confirmed by Deadline today and marks the second high-profile animation feature project dumped by the studio since David Zaslav came in as CEO of merged parent co. Warner Bros. Discovery, following the hybrid Looney Tunes pic Coyote vs. Acme.
According to SPA, Fixed is “The story of an average, all-around good dog who is in love with the show dog next door, and what happens when he learns that he is going to get neutered in the morning. What does a dog do with his last night out with his besties?”
The voice cast features Adam DeVine as Bull, the neuteree-to-be, as well as Idris Elba, Kathryn Hahn, Fred Armisen, Bobby Moynihan, Beck Bennett, River Gallo and Michelle Buteau. Tartakovsky wrote the script with Jon Vitti (The Simpsons, Ice Age), and produced alongside Michelle Murdocca.
Tartakovsky has a history with both Warner and Sony, having risen to prominence with the success of his Cartoon Network shows Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack, Star Wars: Clone Wars and Sym-Bionic Titan, as well as the Adult Swim series Primal and Unicorn: Warriors Eternal. For Sony, he helmed the first three blockbuster Hotel Transylvania movies (and wrote the fourth). Fixed is one of two adult-targeted SPA animated features Tartakovsky was announced as attached to in 2018, alongside Black Knight.
Cutting Class Media has joined forces with Lakeside Animation to produce a series of 10 long-form adult animated dramas and comedies, covering both series and features.
This five-year collaboration brings together Cutting Class Media’s experience in producing adult animation originals (Gary and His Demons [Amazon Freevee], Doomlands [Roku], Night Sweats [Adult Swim Canada]) with Lakeside Animation’s award-winning team (Red Iron Road [Prime Video], Arctic Dogs [Netflix/Apple TV]). Initial project announcements are expected in the coming months.
“Combining Cutting Class’ expertise in crafting adult animated stories with Lakeside’s immensely talented North Bay and international animation teams, we are poised to leverage our collective skills and government incentives,” said Joshua Bowen, Co-CEO & Head of Animation at Cutting Class. “This partnership enables us to create a significant volume of content without relying on pre-sales, confident that buyers will have both the shelf space and appetite for first-window finished content, especially given the current market lull that has resulted in fewer original commissions.”
Lakeside Animation CEO Iouri Stepanov added, “By utilizing our international and North Bay pipelines, we will be able to produce multiple shows a year. We are thrilled to join forces with Cutting Class and grow our companies into major players in the adult animation category.”
Following the announcement that it is shutting down the classic cartoon platform Boomerang, Warner Bros. Discovery has apparently stripped free video content from CartoonNetwork.com. Where fans could once click over to stream CN shows like Teen Titans GO!, Steven Universe, The Powerpuff Girls and The Amazing World of Gumball, visitors are now greeted by a pop-up referring them to Max.
The alert reads:
Stream Cartoon Network on Max
Looking for episodes of your favorite Cartoon Network shows? Check out what’s available to stream on Max (subscription required). Sign up for Max, where you can also create a Kids Profile with rating restrictions and additional privacy protections to keep it fun and kid-friendly! Cable subscribers, continue to enjoy your favorite CN programming on your TV and connected apps as well!
Selecting from the menu of shows listed on the website, users are again prompted to sign up for Max and redirected to the streamer’s subscription page.
The website had previously offered access to full episodes and video clips for Cartoon Network programs, as well as video games inspired by its popular shows.
As previously announced, Boomerang will shut down on September 30, with current subscriptions being automatically transferred to Max.
Moves to “streamline” WBD’s streaming offerings come in line with the company reporting huge losses in Q2. The numbers reported Wednesday showed a $9.1 billion impairment charge to account for decreased advertising and worries about the impact of losing its NBA package.
Unfortunately, animation fans have seen before how the category is used as a shock absorber for bumpy financial times, such as in the massive and controversial 2022 cull of animated content from then-HBO Max to help pay for the Warner Bros. Discovery merger with write-downs.
The Animation Guild, IATSE Local 839, in conjunction with the International Alliance of Stage Employees (IATSE) and the University of Massachusetts Amherst Labor Center, has released a comprehensive study examining pay equity across various crafts within The Animation Guild. The study highlights potential pay gaps that are likely a legacy of historically female-dominated crafts.
The study, conducted with a job evaluation tool (JET), revealed disparities in three key crafts: Color Designer, Animation Checker and Storyboard Revisionist. One of the most striking revelations from the study involved the comparison between Color Designers and Background Painters. Despite the equivalent complexity, skills and responsibilities required for both roles, Color Designers were found to be earning significantly less than their Background Painters counterparts. The job evaluation tool used in the study determined that there was no justification for this disparity based on core pay factors.
The report suggests that this inequity may stem from the historical context of Color Designers emerging from the traditionally female-dominated Ink & Paint department. This legacy appears to contribute to the undervaluation and subsequent underpayment of Color Designers compared to Background Painters.
“This study confirms what members working in the craft of Color Design have known all along — that their work requires just as much skill, effort, and responsibility as any other Design craft, and should be valued no less,” said Teri Hendrich Cusumano, The Animation Guild Vice President. The Los Angeles-based painter has worked as a color designer, color supervisor and background designer/artist on shows like Krapopolis, Duncanville, Final Space and Animals.
The Animation Guild, also known as Local 839 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), was founded in 1952. The labor union represents more than 5,000 artists, technicians and writers in the animation industry, advocating for workers to improve wages and conditions.
The University of Massachusetts Amherst Labor Center is dedicated to advancing knowledge and promoting social justice through rigorous research and education on labor issues. The center strives to empower workers and advocates for equitable labor practices across various industries.
Multi-award-winning independent animation studio Aardman announced that Academy Award-nominated director Will Becher has been appointed Stop-Motion Lead for its training facility, the Aardman Academy.
Becher co-directed Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon, is currently Supervising Animator on Aardman’s upcoming film Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and has served as a key part of the filmmaking team on many of Aardman’s productions such as Creature Comforts, Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit, The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists, Shaun the Sheep Movie, Early Man and Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget.
“I am absolutely delighted to extend a warm welcome to Will Becher as he joins our team!” said Mark Hewis, Head of Aardman Academy. “With a distinguished career in stop-motion animation, Will’s reputation as both a world-leading animator and director precedes him, showcasing his remarkable talent and expertise. Not only is Will an incredible creative force, but his passion for teaching elevates our commitment to providing the very highest level of educational expertise at the Aardman Academy. We’re thrilled to have him on board, enriching our team and empowering the next generation of creatives that come through the Aardman Academy.”
In his new role (effective Aug. 1) as Stop-Motion Lead, Becher is responsible for all teaching, learning activities and development relating to stop-motion animation production for both internal animation talent and students studying at the Aardman Academy. He is responsible for leading the facility’s premium courses ‘In-Studio Stop Motion’ and ‘Stop Motion Professional,’ both of which offer students the opportunity to upskill and learn from award-winning creative talent. Alongside this he will be across the development and delivery of all stop-motion teaching and learning for bespoke courses and university partnerships, which will include public events and delivering animation masterclasses and special keynotes.
“With the Aardman Academy growing at a pace, I am thrilled to be joining the team as their first ‘in house’ Stop-Motion Lead,” Becher remarked. “Animation skills at Aardman are vital to our productions and to the wider industry, and learning and sharing the craft has always been a part of the process here. Working alongside some of the best animators and directors in the world has taught me a lot about what it takes to be successful in this industry. I’m excited to be sharing this with new creatives at an earlier point in their careers. I look forward to representing the company at festivals and events and sharing some of the magic of Aardman.”
Becher has had a career spanning 20 years working as a writer, director and stop-motion lead animator after originally joining Aardman forwork experience. His feature film character animation has been recognized with both Annie Award and Visual Effects Society nominations. His award-winning short films have been screened at numerous festivals and his feature film debut gained both BAFTA and Academy Award nominations. Will is a voting member of AMPAS and is on the jury for the Royal Television Society and Young Animator of the Year Awards 2024.
Established in 2013, the Aardman Academy was designed to nurture talent and strengthen ties between the animation industry and education providing development for animation professionals as well as outreach training and talent progression opportunities. In 2024, the Aardman Academy was ranked #2 in the Top Professional Animation Training Programs in England by the Animation Career Review school rankings and #3 in the Top 20 Professional Animation Training Programs in Europe.
Following the anime leaks reported this week, information has surfaced about a number of Netflix Animated titles yet to be released that have also been thrown out onto the web.
In addition to the complete Terminator Zero series (premiering Aug. 29) and episodes of Ranma ½ and Dan Da Dan, watermarked footage from Spellbound (Skydance Animation, Nov. 22), Plankton: The Movie (Nickelodeon, 2025), Arcane Season 2 (Fortiche/Riot, November) and Jentry Chau vs. The Underworld (Titmouse, 2024) are being shared around message boards and social media. Artists and animation lovers are also taking to their platforms to decry the leaks and encourage fans to wait and see these projects as they were intended to be seen.
Industry watchers tracking the leaks believe that they are coming from an outside vendor, and not from anyone inside Netflix. The multi-title spill follows the early leak of Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie in January.
Esteemed Polish animation studio Platige Image has revealed its work on the CG-animated trailer for the Esports World Cup, chiseled out in an eye-catching stone sculpture look. The studio worked directly with event organizers the EWC Foundation to capture esports fans’ attention.
“Our animation references the materials and branding colors used in creating the EWC scenery and the trophy itself,” director Jakub Jabłoński noted. “We combined abstract, geometric, golden simulations with elegant stone sculptures symbolizing the most important games of the tournament. Another important feature is the human element of EWC. These are our athletes, heroes and people of flesh and blood. That’s why we sculpted the most recognizable esports champions in digital stone and dedicated the final segment of the championship to them.”
This year’s edition of the multidisciplinary Esports World Cup launched July 4 and is running through August 4, held at the Riyadh Boulevard City in Saudi Arabia. The EWC offers the largest prize pool in esports competition, and covers top titles from all major game genres. More information available at esportsworldcup.com.
“The dynamics of the tournament require us to constantly update the spot, including adjusting the color scheme to match the individual teams,” said Hanna Drewek, VFX producer at Platige Image.
The supervisors from Platige Image for this project were Łukasz Dziedziński, Marek Gajowski and Bartek Kmita.
New cities have been added to the rollout of the independent animated feature Let Them Breathe: City on the Ocean. The title marks the next chapter in Candice Rogers’ cel-shaded anime zombie epic, and will make its theatrical premiere on September 6 in select venues across the country.
The film is a sequel to the popular YouTube series Let Them Breathe, which has garnered over 200,000 views across five episodes and has also inspired a video game, Let Them Breathe: Hello Mother, now available on Steam (14,000 copies sold). A second game, Selena’s Awakening, is expected to release in the fall.
The story centers on Jesse Chen, who awakens to a harrowing reality: an apocalyptic world where his family has perished. Struggling to make sense of his new existence, Jesse finds his only glimmer of hope in reconnecting with his best friend, Selena. Together, they navigate the desolate landscape, facing numerous challenges and uncovering the truth behind the catastrophe that has befallen their world.
Rogers, a Texas-based writer, director, animator, composer and producer, also voice stars as Selena and other characters in the film. She is joined by Boris Jumper as Jesse and various characters, and Tokyo-based actor, singer and translator Yumiko Daniel as Dirk Zhang, Chrisian Yakanaka and others. Rogers and Jumper both acted in the indie psychological thriller Trapped.
Let Them Breathe: City on the Ocean is animated using 2D cel shading over 3D CG to create a comic-book-like effect, layered over motion capture performance.
Screening engagements are scheduled for Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, Las Vegas, Austin, Houston, Chicago, Indianapolis, Atlanta and New York City, with more locations being added by demand. Visit letthembreathemovie.com for more information.
Despite a period of uncertainty, fans won’t have to say “that’s all, folks” to The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie. Ketchup Entertainment (Ozi, Voice of the Forest) announced it has acquired the Warner Bros. Animation feature for North American distribution from GFM Animation, which is handling worldwide sales for the 2D animated feature.
A release date has not yet been confirmed.
“The Day the Earth Blew Up is an historical moment for the Looney Tunes franchise, and we are proud to be partnering with Warner Bros. Animation to bring this film to audiences theatrically,” said Gareth West, CEO of Ketchup Ent. “We cannot wait for audiences of all ages to experience one of the smartest animated films in recent years.”
Originally slated as a Max original, The Day the Earth Blew Up was put out to shop for a new home due to the Warner Bros. Discovery restructure. GFM Animation launched sales for the pic at the 2023 American Film Market, and the completed film premiered at the Annecy Festival in France in June of this year.
“Gareth’s enthusiasm for Warner Bros. Animation’s spectacular, Looney adventure persuaded us that Ketchup Entertainment were the right partners for releasing the film in North America,” said Fred Hedman for GFM Animation. “We’re looking forward to continuing to work with the team as they prepare for audiences to embrace Porky Pig and Daffy Duck on the big screen.”
Synopsis: Directed by Pete Browngardt (Looney Tunes Cartoons, Uncle Grandpa), the film stars two-time Emmy winner Eric Bauza reprising his roles as lifelong friends Daffy Duck and Porky Pig who uncover a sinister alien invasion plot while working at the local bubble gum factory. Together with Petunia Pig, our unlikely heroes embark on a hilarious high-stakes mission fighting off zombies and aliens while delivering all the laugh out-loud gags and vibant visuals that have made the Looney Tunes so iconic.
The voice cast also stars Looney Tunes veterans Candi Milo and Fred Tatasciore alongside Emmy winner Peter MacNicol and others.
Alex Kirwan is supervising producer. The movie is written by Darrick Bachman, Pete Browngardt, Kevin Costello, Andrew Dickman, David Gemmill, Alex Kirwan, Ryan Kramer, Jason Reicher, Michael Ruocco, Johnny Ryan and Eddie Trigueros. Nick Cross serves as art director and Aaron Spurgeon as production designer. Sam Register and Pete Browngardt are executive producers. Produced by Warner Bros. Animation.
DreamWorks Animation today debuted a new trailer for The Wild Robot, the studio’s upcoming adaptation of the No. 1 New York Times bestseller by Peter Brown. Universal Pictures will release the film, which has already generated plenty of buzz from its sneak peeks at Annecy and Comic-Con, on September 27, following its world premiere at TIFF.
The film’s third preview spotlights the challenging time its mechanical protagonist has connecting with the native creatures of her new island home — until she forms a surprising bond with an orphaned gosling. The footage is set to a new single by pop country singer-songwriter Maren Morris, “Kiss the Sky.”
The Wild Robot stars Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o (Us, The Black Panther franchise) as robot ROZZUM unit 7134 (“Roz” for short); Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us, The Mandalorian) as fox Fink; Emmy winner Catherine O’Hara (Schitt’s Creek, Best in Show) as opossum Pinktail; Oscar nominee Bill Nighy (Living, Love Actually) as goose Longneck; Kit Connor (Heartstopper, Rocketman) as gosling Brightbill and Oscar nominee Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Fall Guy) as Vontra, a robot that will intersect with Roz’s life on the island.
From left: Fink (Pedro Pascal), Roz (Lupita N’yongo), and Brightbill (Kit Connor) in DreamWorks Animation’s Wild Robot, directed by Chris Sanders.
The film also features the voice talents of Emmy winning pop-culture icon Mark Hamill (Star Wars franchise, The Boy and the Heron), Matt Berry (What We Do in the Shadows, The SpongeBob Movie franchise) and Golden Globe winner and Emmy nominee Ving Rhames (Mission: Impossible films, Pulp Fiction).
The Wild Robot is written and directed by three-time Oscar nominee Chris Sanders (How to Train Your Dragon, The Croods, Lilo & Stitch) and produced by Jeff Hermann (The Boss Baby 2: Family Business; co-producer, Kung Fu Panda franchise).
Recapture the feeling of watching a smash-hit movie when Disney and Pixar’s Inside Out 2 makes its digital debut on August 20, followed by a home video release on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on September 10. The sequel to Oscar winner Inside Out rocketed to a record-setting theatrical release, becoming the fastest animated feature to hit $1 billion globally and the No. 1 highest-grossing animated feature of all time (10th overall).
Fans can continue the emotional roller coaster of this Rotten Tomatoes – Certified Fresh pick with exclusive content featuring an all-new documentary, an alternative opening, deleted scenes and much more. The 4K Blu-ray will be available in a Limited-Edition Collectable SteelBook release.
Synopsis: Disney and Pixar’s Inside Out 2 returns to the mind of newly minted teenager Riley just as headquarters is undergoing a sudden demolition to make room for something entirely unexpected: new Emotions! Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust, who’ve long been running a successful operation by all accounts, aren’t sure how to feel when Anxiety shows up. And it looks like she’s not alone.
Maya Hawke stars as new emotion Anxiety, alongside Amy Poehler as Joy, Phyllis Smith as Sadness, Lewis Black as Anger, Tony Hale as Fear and Liza Lapira as Disgust. The film is directed by Kelsey Mann and produced by Mark Nielsen.
Bonus Features:
New Emotions – With Riley’s imminent puberty, the story of Inside Out 2 always suggested that there would be a party of new emotions complicating Riley’s world — and throwing a wrench into Joy’s hard-won stability. But exactly what those new emotions could be was a big question mark. Casting the new emotions in Riley’s mind was a fun exploration into the shifting mindset of a teenager, and was also informed by some of the discarded scenes and characters from the original film. In this documentary we’ll discuss that process of creating Anxiety, Embarrassment, Ennui, and Envy — from narrowing them down from a long list of possible emotions, to the design, animation, and voicing of these new, hilarious, and strangely recognizable characters.
Unlocking the Vault – In a kind of visual commentary, a group of central creatives watch and discuss the scene “The Vault.” As they stop and start — and refer to various IP versions of the scene — we’ll hear about the inspiration for Riley’s repressed memories like Bloofy and Lance Slashblade, the development of the scene in Story, and the technical challenges of creating 2D characters that exist in the CG world of Riley’s mind.
Deleted Scenes
Cold Open – In this alternate opening, a now 13-year-old Riley awkwardly fumbles her way through an original song she wrote for a school audition.
Broken Joy – After momentarily being unable to drive the console, Joy worries that she might be starting to malfunction.
Pool Party – After Riley tries too hard to be fun at an older teen’s party – resulting in utter embarrassment – her “Anxiety” becomes “Self-Loathing” who then ousts our hero emotions from headquarters.
Puberty Park – After seeing their faces printed on “wanted posters,” Joy and the others rogue emotions race through a puberty-themed amusement park while being chased by mind worker cops.
Shame Spiral – At a lock-in with some cool, older girls, Riley and friends play a game of “Never Have I Ever” that goes a bit too far – wreaking havoc in Riley’s mind.
Note: Bonus features may vary by product and retailer.
Episodes of multiple highly anticipated anime series have been leaked online through anonymous message board and content piracy websites, Anime News Network confirmed Tuesday. Sites including 4chan and BitTorrent were found to have unreleased material from the new Ranma ½ , Dan Da Dan, Netflix’s Terminator Zero and Season 3 of Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, as well as the feature film Gekijōban Mononoke: Karakasa. Some of these videos have scheduled fan expo premieres, and more than one is set to screen on Netflix.
However, fans may as well wait for the official releases. ANN points out that the leaks are low-res, and are further muddled by blurred watermarks and timestamps.
Worst hit is Netflix’s Terminator Zero, which is imminently due for release on August 29. All episodes of the show, produced by Skydance Animation and Production I.G, have been leaked. The series is set within the cinematic Terminator universe and follows new characters in the epic battle between humanity and the conquering AI known as Skynet.
Episodes 1, 3 and 4 of the rebooted Ranma ½ were leaked. Based on the hit 1980s-90s manga by Rumiko Takahashi and featuring returning voice stars from the original anime series (1989-92), the new version is directed by One Piece veteran Kōnosuke Uda, produced by Shogakukan Shueisha Productions with animation by MAPPA (Vinland Saga, The God of High School). The first episode is slated to World Premiere at Anime NYC on August 24, at a screening presented by VIZ Media and Hot Topic. The broadcast debut is set for October 5 on Nippon TV / Netflix.
Dan Da Dan will also premiere the first three episodes of its English-language dub version at Anime NYC, and will launch worldwide on Netflix in October. Crunchyroll has also picked up the series for streaming. The leaked episodes are numbers 3-6. Produced by Science SARU, the opening trilogy of eps. is getting a package theatrical release as Dan Da Dan: First Encounter with global release dates in Asia (August 31), Europe (September 7) and North America (September 13, through GKIDS).
The first episode of the third season of isekai adventure Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- has been shared out with a watermark indicating it screened at Japan Expo in France last month. The series is animated by White Fox and streams on Crunchyroll.
And all of Gekijōban Mononoke: Karakasa was leaked. Internationally titled Mononoke the Movie: Phantom in the Rain, it is the first in the new multi-film project based on Toei’s Mononoke series, which is itself a spin-off of Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Tales. The movie opened in Japan on July 26; no international release dates or distributors have been announced. The film is produced by Twin Engine with series director Kenji Nakamura at the helm.
I’m a little late on the Chaos Vantage story — so much so that I missed the 1.0 release and we are already at 2.5. So, let’s have a quick rundown of what Vantage is:
Vantage is a real-time rendering engine from Chaos, the guys who brought us V-Ray, which incidentally is my go-to renderer. But, given the heritage, you know that everything learned in V-Ray is applied to Vantage. However, it renders much faster — essentially in real time. The 3D scenes are brought into Vantage via a live link with 3D Studio Max or a saved out .vrscene file, but the live link reflects any changes that happen in Max and updates in Vantage automatically. In addition, the Chaos Cosmos library (which is essentially the Chaos flavor of Unreal’s Quixel) can be used to quickly populate and dress scenes with objects that are already textured and optimized for use in Vantage.
So, what’s new in 2.5? Initially, Vantage was great for arch viz — quickly setting up and dressing architecture interiors and exteriors and being able to render, present and iterate in real time. Since the 2.0 version, Chaos has brought Vantage more and more into the VFX realm, migrating tools from V-Ray into Vantage. These include such things as support for animated meshes, including support for animated vegetation from Chaos Cosmos, Chaos Scatter tools, GPU denoising support, VRayEdgesTex and round edges, scene state and render element support, displacement maps, hair and fur, ACEScg color space and chromatic aberration.
Along with new features, there are fixes, modifications and performance boosts. Texture loading is 5-10% faster in 2.5, and structure rebuilds and instance updates are faster. UI/UX adjustments have also been made based on user feedback.
Also, with this latest release, Vantage has initial support with OpenXR framework for monoscopic or stereoscopic output for VR headsets, with the caveats that this is just getting started and that tethered viewing gives the smoothest performance. But I think that it’ll ultimately catch up in later interactions for wireless headsets.
I feel that all Vantage real-time technology, along with the VR-headset support, has been paving the way for Project Arena, which marks Chaos expanding to virtual environments and LED volumes. I’d be happy to do a review if someone kindly lent me their LED volume for a day!
Website: chaos.com/vantage Price: $42-$59 per month (solo, premium, enterprise)
V-Slate
V-Slate
Filmmaking is a complex process akin to waging war, but without so many casualties. There are many departments with their own series of tasks. Everyone has unique jobs, all created to support and focus on one cause — making the movie. There are also many phases: development, preproduction, production and postproduction. And at each phase, the parameters change. The scope changes. Scenes are rearranged. Scripts are rewritten, reedited, expanded, compressed. And we in the visual effects industry are affected by all of this, at all phases, and must keep track of it. (To be fair, I’m speaking myopically and somewhat selfishly — because I’m a VFX supervisor, but all departments on a film are critical.)
In many production-tracking systems out there, the focus is on postproduction. But VFX starts (or should start) during development. So, we need a production-tracking system where we can keep track of script versions, changes to those scripts, initial bids, subsequent bids, storyboards, animatics, previz — and then have all that information seamlessly migrate into the production phase, through postproduction and delivery. This is where V-Slate comes in.
V-Slate was developed by VFX producer Alejandro Diego von Dorrer, based on his multidecade experience as a partner/producer at Ollin VFX in Mexico City and as a studio-side producer on multiple shows for Amazon Studios. The backbone of V-Slate is FileMaker Pro (which is no stranger in VFX), but Von Dorrer has written a substantial tool set to track scripts, schedules, budgets, financials, vendors and deliveries. Further, reports can be quickly built and exported to be delivered to production so they also know how things are going.
V-Slate is primarily integrated with Autodesk’s Flow Production Tracking (a.k.a. ShotGrid, née ShotGun), but Von Dorrer has plans to expand into other systems such as FTrack. V-Slate pulls and pushes data from Flow, including access to clips. VFX supes can select multiple clips or playlists and download the clips for review, as opposed to hunting in the Flow interface.
We used this on Prime Video’s I’m A Virgo, which predominantly used old-school effects like forced perspective, miniatures, puppets and other in-camera gags — things that aren’t usually tracked in VFX production-tracking software — because all pieces were being created and prepped before cameras rolled — but the VFX team was still integrally involved. Von Dorrer customized V-Slate to track all that information and then export the VFX plans to PDFs, which were distributed with call sheets to the rest of the crew — all of whom were critical to executing the shots.
V-Slate is definitely meant for full film productions, and it comes with a per-production cost — but it also includes support. The “full production,” however, doesn’t exclude low-budget or indie films. In fact, something like V-Slate would keep costs down — because planning, prep work and tracking costs is all about reducing waste. That, of course, leads to leaner productions.
Website: v-slate.com Price: $9,500 for 24 months per project
InstaMAT layering
InstaMAT
The people who brought us InstaLOD have come up with a new product five years in the making: InstaMAT. It’s hard to qualify and quantify InstaMAT because it does so many things, and in fact, I’m barely going to scratch the surface. Let’s boil it down to the company’s own description: “Elemental tools for the design and automation of 3D materials, assets and texturing.” I think someone on Discord said, “It’s like if Houdini, Substance Designer and Substance Painter had a baby.” Both descriptions are a bit reductive but give us a good starting point.
On the surface level (pun unintended), you get a combination of procedural materials and painting tools. Choose from a library of prebuilt materials, like metals, woods or rocks, and throw it onto a mesh. It can be a layered system in a stack where you can blend materials, elements or textures. Paint hand strokes or add decals, all with UDIM support. And then bring them into other DCCs with integrations and plugins for Maya, Max, Blender, Unity, Unreal (and there are future plans for Houdini).
There are plenty of prefab accessory tools for anything you were doing in other software. For example, there is a Materialize Image function to convert photos into PBR materials, so your photo is transformed into a node-based shader with the albedo, normals, height, occlusion and roughness. There are scaling tools to dynamically adapt to resolutions. You can create instances of materials with promoted parameters (like in Houdini and Unreal). There is a neural style transfer node for stylizing the looks.
Further, InstaMAT looks beyond just creating textures for a single, unique object. Abstract is cognizant of larger pipelines for VFX and game development. That’s why there are lots of workflows for scaling processes — making things procedural. Functions like assigning materials across many objects, filtered by wildcards in the names of objects. Instancing materials with dependencies tied to data within the meshes. And trying not to depend on UVs for texturing but instead determining surfaces through mesh volumes.
But wait: This is just the bare-bones, top-level tool. The rabbit hole goes deep quickly. All these functions are based on nodal systems you can drill down into. Much like Unreal Blueprints, Substance Designer graphs or Houdini systems, you can get to a granular, programming-language level — all nodal. So, the amount of customization is essentially infinite. Through Element Graphs and what they call “Atom Graphs,” everything (or nearly everything) is an accessible node, and each system can be encapsulated in compressed functions.
It’s all a little intimidating if you haven’t touched the nodal workflows, but honestly, in a world with Houdini and Blender nodes (or Maya’s Bifrost, Max’s TyFlow or Mari and Substance Designer’s nodes), I think you might be intentionally avoiding it. So, InstaMAT might be a great place to start — because if you are an individual or small company making under $100,000 a year, you can get InstaMAT for free. And further, once you can afford it, you can opt for a perpetual license or a subscription — which is quite nice.
Noel Powell, the creative driver behind the Creation Effects tools for After Effects, has been busy creating a new set of After Effects templates geared toward updating its Space Effects kit with three new templates: The first one is the Black Hole template.
Based on NASA simulations and imagery, and no doubt influenced by the Kip Thorne-inspired imagery from Interstellar, the Black Hole disc template starts you out with the default accretion disc, with stars being stretched and pulled and around the event horizon. However, there are seven animations that Powell used to create the promo videos — just to get you started.
The scene is set in After Effects’ 3D space, so modifying your camera will give you the correct perspective as you change your vantage point. Plus, the background star field is on a huge cube, which provides flexibility with your camera — you will always see stars no matter which direction you face.
Each feature of the black hole is on a different layer with controllable features, but the best way to control the look is through the master control layer, which has parameters tied to all the layers with expressions. The list of parameters is much too long to list here. However, the response of the comp is fast enough that you can play with the settings and dial in the look you like. So, you can get to the Interstellar look, or you can turn off the accretion disc and the glows, and what you have left is the lensing effect of the star background getting warped and refracted through the gravitational field of the black hole.
And if you want to evoke Disney’s 1970s-era movie, The Black Hole, you have the option to go with the black-hole-funnel look as well.
As usual, the documentation is thorough and self-explanatory, with a darn good tutorial. Black Hole on its own is $39, or you can get it in the Space Effects bundle for $99. Either way, it’s a total bargain.
Creation Effects: Terra
Creation Effects: Terra
The Terra template is specifically for making high Earth orbit or distant shots from space. Like other Creation Effects, you have controls in a master control with parameters that manipulate individual layers, which include the continents during the day or night, with the option of city lights. Water, clouds and atmosphere are on their own customizable layers.
Earth models are available at 32MP (8,000 x 4,000) texture maps or 128MP (16,000 x 8,000), depending on how close you want to get. These are mapped onto a 3D sphere, so lighting within After Effects will illuminate your Earth appropriately.
The water has specularity, brightness and saturation controls. The clouds offer parameters for the rotation that are separate from the planet. The density can be tweaked, which is a function of opacity. Plus, shadows can be added with a combination of embossing or an offset for long shadows.
And the atmosphere (as opposed to the clouds) is the dangerously thin layer around our planet, only really seen on the edges of Earth. More specifically, this looks more intense when the sun is behind the Earth — backlighting that atmosphere. For realism, this is usually pretty subtle — but if you want to go Bayhem on it, you have that option too!
The package is bundled with Creations 15 lens flares to take pace of the old, tired Adobe flares. You can drag the flare into your comp, and it will tether to the position of the sun. One bummer is that the flare isn’t automatically occluded, so it’s recommended to animate the flare — but I bet with some fancy After Effects-ing, you could get a mask from Earth and drive an occlusion in the flare layer. And as a bonus you get the Moon!
Each of the layers work pretty well on their own, but you can dig deeper into each pre-comp to customize everything to taste. Like Black Hole, Terra is a mere $39 but can be found in the Space Effects package.
Creation Effects: Solaris
Creation Effects: Solaris
As with the Black Hole template, Powell has turned to NASA as a resource for footage and inspiration to make a 3D template for creating glorious sun animation. Solaris uses footage of solar flares, prominences, coronal mass ejections and the sun’s surface from NASA. 25 different solar elements and five 8K surface textures.
The template is, again, in 3D space, so you have flexibility in where you place your camera, and the scene will remain appropriately in perspective. The solar elements are on planes attached to the surface of the sun, so when you adjust the parameters, such as positions and orientation, the flares and CMEs remain attached to the surface. There are also After Effects-made prominences that are more customizable than the footage-based elements, so you can keep within reality or make things more extreme if you like.
Although, as in the other templates, there are plenty of examples that match the shots in the demo reel for Solaris, Powell has also included a “Build Your Own Sun” template that can be used to follow the tutorial. But even better, stepping through building the sun gives insight into how the different components work together. What this means is that you can better build customized suns for your sci-fi short or DIY version of 3-Body Problem.
Like other Creation Effects templates, most of the controls are in a master control layer, where you can adjust the rotation of the sun, position and radius; the hue and glow controls, as well as some edge controls to roughen the edge to make it feel more organic. All the prominences have individual controls within the control layer.
The package also offers a Heat Haze control for that signature heat distortion. Powell has thrown in a few more lens flares from the Creation Effects Lens Flare Collection. Some sun/heat-themed titles from the Creation Effects Title Effects collection. And to top it off, you also get 19 appropriate sound effects.
Solaris is also $39. So if you splurge and get the whole Space Effects combo pack, you are already saving some money just on the Black Hole, Terra and Solaris templates alone.
Todd Sheridan Perry is an award-winning VFX supervisor and digital artist whose many credits include I’m A Virgo, For All Mankind and Black Panther. He can be reached at todd@teaspoonvfx.com.
French director Michel Hazanavicius, helmer of the multi-Oscar-winning The Artist and of this year’s animated feature Cannes and Annecy selection The Most Precious of Cargoes, has published a deeply personal piece in Le Monde addressing the increasing occurrences of antisemitic violence across Europe. Based on the novel by Jean-Claude Grumberg, The Most Precious of Cargoes is a story about the transformative power of finding family, set against the backdrop of the Holocaust.
Hazanavicius is descended from Jewish grandparents who fled to France from persecution in 1920s Lithuania and Poland, only to be faced with the genocidal violence of the Nazi occupation in World War II. With more and more antisemitic incidents reported across the continent, as well as North America, in the last year, the filmmaker put to pen his feelings about being Jewish in our current times:
“Why, for some time, do I, who am Jewish among other things, who has never really given a damn, have the impression of being more and more obliged to be Jewish? To react as a Jew, to think as a Jew, basically to be Jewish above all,” Hazanavicius wrote.
In another passage, he questions, “Why, when we put Netanyahu on trial, do I too often hear the trial of Israel, or even the trial of the Jews, instead of simply putting the extreme right on trial… Why couldn’t a Jewish asshole just be an asshole? Why does every Jew who says or does something stupid have to take all his people with him? Why do I feel like, for a while now, Jews are the coolest enemies to hate? Much cooler than the Russians or the Chinese, for example.”
“…Why do I have the impression that when we have succeeded in making the Jewish genocide an event like any other, or a very exaggerated event, or even an event too often exploited by the Jews themselves to justify their power, then the anti-Jewish hatred will be able to flourish in complete peace, in quiet serenity?”
Unions and guilds representing workers across the many varied strata of Hollywood’s film and television production industry have joined together in support of The Animation Guild (IATSE Local 839). TAG’s Master Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) commence August 12, and the current contract is due to expire August 16. As previously reported, a kick-off rally is planned for this Saturday.
The American Federation of Musicians (AFM), Directors Guild of America (DGA), International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 40 (IBEW), International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 399 (IBT), Laborers International Union of North America Local 724 (LiUNA!), Operating Plasterers & Cement Masons International Association (OPCMIA) Local 755, Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), United Association Plumbers Local 78 (UA), Writers Guild of America East (WGAE), and Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) issued the following joint statement of solidarity:
“We stand with the members of TAG as they seek contractual provisions that set fair wages and working conditions, prevent overwork, and safeguard workers from the impact of artificial intelligence. TAG negotiates independently of IATSE’s West Coast Studio Locals to address the unique priorities of animation workers, and they do so with our full collective backing.
We also call on the AMPTP to negotiate in good faith, show you value and respect your animation workers, and make meaningful moves to address their specific priorities.”
All industry union members as well as supporters are welcome to the “Stand with Animation Contract Negotiations Kickoff Rally” on Saturday, August 10 from 5-6:30 p.m. at IATSE Local 80 at 2520 West Olive Avenue, #Suite 200 in Burbank. RSVP at AnimationGuild.org/Rally2024.