GKIDS announced Friday it has added exclusive IMAX preview shows of Oscar-nominated filmmaker Mamoru Hosoda’s latest feature, Belle. Previews begin Wednesday, January 12 in select markets, ahead of the film’s nationwide theatrical opening on January 14. The studio also revealed a new theatrical poster for the highly anticipated film. Tickets for IMAX showings and select markets are on sale now at BelleFilm.com.
This original retelling of “Beauty and the Beast” set partially in an expansive virtual world was released in theater (including IMAX screens) in Japan starting July 16, and topped the box office for three consecutive weekends. The film marks Hosoda’s first title to have IMAX screenings, and played in 38 IMAX theaters throughout Japan. Belle has crossed 6.52 billion yen (approx. 59.2 million USD) in box office to date, becoming Hosoda’s highest-grossing film ever by beating the lifetime gross of Boy and the Beast. (Read all about the film in Animation Magazine‘s feature story here!)
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced Wednesday it will debut a Children’s & Family Emmy Awards beginning in 2022. Details and dates for the standalone competition and ceremony will be announced next year. The first Emmy expansion since the Sports and News & Documentary sections spun off in 1979, the move comes as NATAS has seen an explosion in submissions to the kids & family categories (currently 27 as part of the Daytime Emmys) and a 23% increase in programming for this audience in the past two years.
Top children’s animation honors for this year went to The Adventures of Paddington, Hilda and Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth (review the list of winners here). They were honored during the Children’s and Animation portion of this year’s Daytime Emmy trio of virtual ceremonies held in July. NATAS also received more than 300 submissions for the 2021 Creative Arts Emmys’ juried Individual Achievement in Animation honors — the most for any category, resulting in six honorees.
On Thursday, the 2021 HPA Awards celebrated exceptional work in color grading, sound, editing and visual effects in commercial, episodic, and feature projects. Returning to a sold-out gala after a virtual event in 2020, this year’s HPA Awards brought Hollywood golden era flavor to 2021. Presenters for the evening included Barry Meyer, Karol Urban, Anna Behlmer, Brooke Breton, Sabrina Plisco and Patricia Riggen. The complete list of winners is available here. This year’s VFX winners are:
- Outstanding Visual Effects – Theatrical Feature (Sponsored by Zeiss): Black Widow – David Hodgins, Hanzhi Tang, Ryan Duhaime, James Reid, Edmond Smith III; Digital Domain
- Outstanding Visual Effects – Episodic (Under 13 Episodes) or Non-theatrical Feature (Sponsored by Zeiss): The Mandalorian “Chapter 9: The Marshal” – Joe Bauer, Richard Bluff, Abbigail Keller, Hal Hickel, Jeff Capogreco; Industrial Light & Magic
- Outstanding Visual Effects – Episodic (Over 13 Episodes) (Sponsored by Zeiss): 9-1-1 – The New Abnormal – Jon Massey, Tony Pirzadeh, Timothy Cairns, Bryant Reif, Josephine Noh; FuseFX
TMS Entertainment USA, Inc. will host screenings of both the 27th Lupin the 3rd TV special and delayed but highly anticipated 24th movie in the Case Closed franchise at this year’s Anime NYC Convention at the Javits Center in New York this weekend.
- Lupin the 3rd: Prison of the Past English Dub Premiere | Nov. 21, 3:30 p.m., Panel 4 | Making special appearances for the screening will be English voice cast members Tony Oliver (Lupin III), Richard Epcar (Daisuke Jigen), Lex Lang (Goemon Ishikawa), Michelle Ruff (Fujiko Mine) and Doug Erholtz (Inspector Zenigata). The cast will host a trivia and giveaway contest at the screening. All attendees will also receive an Anime NYC exclusive Lupin the 3rd face mask specially designed for the premiere.
- Case Closed: The Scarlet Bullet English Dub Premiere | Nov. 22, 11:30 a.m. | Panel 4 | The screening will be followed by a trivia and giveaway contest: Fans will be able to test their knowledge of the series for exclusive Case Closed prizes to celebrate the premiere of the highly anticipated theatrical addition to the beloved series.
Winners in the 14th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (asiapacificscreenawards.com) were announced Nov. 11, with Best Animated Feature Film awarded to Andrey Khrzhanovsky’s The Nose or The Conspiracy of Mavericks (Nos ili zagovor netakikh, Russian Federation). The award was determined by the Youth, Animation, Documentary International Jury comprised of Jury Chair Anocha Suwichakornpong (Thailand), Screen International Deputy Asia Editor and Korea Correspondent Jean Noh (Republic of Korea) and internationally sought-after New Zealand animator, Antony Elworthy.
The Jury Citation read, “The Nose or the Conspiracy of Mavericks stood out amongst the strong field of animated films with its originality, and clear and powerful message. The Nose is a very unusual and fresh film, skillfully realised with traditional animation techniques, yet with a post-modern twist. Mixing live-action and historical footage with collage and ink animation, and with occasional glimpses of the animators working on the scenes as they unfold, the film itself is like a collage. A celebration of Russian literature and theater, but also a look at suppression of the arts in a dark chapter of Soviet history, The Nose stands as a defiant and poignant rejection of tyranny.”
In accepting the Award, Khrzhanovsky said, “Dear ladies and gentlemen, dear members of the jury. First of all, thank you very much for this prize. It is a really great honor for me. It is very important to receive this Prize here in Asia, because Asian culture and art is a great phenomenon in general. I would like to wish to all people in the world to be healthy, with good health and prosperity.”
In addition to celebrating the full class of 32 winners from 14 countries at the Young Guns 19 awards ceremony in New York, The One Club for Creativity presented additional special recognition to two honorees.
- Kiyotaka Mizukoshi, founder and president at Mozu Studios in Tokyo, received the Young Guns 19 Creative Choice Award. The accolade is the result of a public vote by the global creative community who reviewed work of all YG19 winners and picked the one they believe stands above all others. Mizukoshi works in three different fields: stop-motion animation, miniatures and trick art. He created his first miniature at the age of 17, and it looked so real that it went viral on social media and was featured on TV. His stop-motion animation Out of Order won the top prize at Digicon6, one of the largest film festivals in Asia. Mizukoshi hosted his first exhibition this past July and is still touring Japan.
- Danaé Gosset, an animation director, art director and designer based in Paris, was presented with the eight-annual Artist In Residence Award from international artists management agency and Young Guns sponsor Levine/Leavitt. The honor is bestowed annually to a newly crowned Young Gun whose body of work truly stands out, as judged by an advisory board of industry professionals across a range of disciplines. As this year’s winner, Gossert receives a full year of professional development, guidance and mentorship from Levine/Leavitt to help advance her career. She specializes in the craft of mixed-media moving images, and aims to make people feel in different ways through various cross techniques and powerful narratives. Gosset’s work has been recognized by organizations including the Art Directors Club, Type Directors Club, SXSW, D&AD, Graphis Annual, Indigo Awards and Adobe.
Red Sea: Immersive, part of the Red Sea Int’l Film Festival, announced its 21-strong program of virtual reality experiences, running from Dec. 7-15, presented in collaboration with Art Jameel and hosted at Jeddah’s new creative complex, Hayy Jameel.
- In competition: Kevin Mack’s Anandala, David Adler’s End of Night, Joerg Courtial’s Genesis, Benjamin Cleary & Michael O’Connor’s Glimpse, May Abdalla & Barry Gene Murphy’s Goliath: Playing with Reality, Felix Gaedkte & Gayatri Parameswaran’s Kusunda, Asif Kapadia’s Laika, Amir Admoni & Fabito Rychter’s Lavrynthos, Blanca Li’s Le Bal de Paris de Blanca Li, Benjamin Steiger Levin’s Marco & Polo Go Round, Sam Wolson’s Reeducated, Hsin-Chien Huang’s Samsara (Lun Hui) and Tang Zhi-Zhong & Huang Yun-Hsien’s The Sick Rose.
- Out of competition: Randall Okita’s The Book of Distance, Michelle & Uri Kranot’s The Hangman at Home, Rui Guerreiro’s Mare, Balthazar Auxietre’s Maskmaker, German Heller & Federico Carlini’s Paperbirds 1 & 2, Jonathan Hagard’s Replacements (Penggantian), Rose Troche’s We Live Here and global collab VRChat Worlds Collection.
RedSeaIFF also announced it will present the Arab premieres of Illumination’s Sing 2 and Mamoru Hsoda’s Belle as part of its Red Sea: Next Generation section for younger audiences. The program will also feature a selection of short films from various directors, Kiddomania. The inaugural RedSeaIFF takes place Dec. 6-15 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Dates, Submissions & Selections Bytes:
- Anime Frontier Powered by Crunchyroll, a new experiential event from LeftField Media (Anime NYC), opens its doors in Texas with its debut con next month in the Fort Worth Convention Center. 3-5, 2021 | animefrontier.com
- FMX 2022 confirms an exclusive online program as part of its hybrid plans, opening May 6 and available on VOD until May 31. May 3-5 / 6, 2022 | fmx.de
- Free Comic Book Day (U.S.) returns the first Saturday in May, featuring 45 free titles at participating shops. May 7, 2022 | freecomicbookday.com
- Seoul POPCON brings a new pop culture con to the Korean capital next summer, focused on comics, film/TV and games as well as new fields like metaverses and NFTs. 25-28, 2022 | seoulpopcon.org
- DEADLINE EXTENDED: CEE Animation Workshop. For European animation projects in short, feature, TV series/special, documentary, hybrid or XR format. New deadline: Nov. 22, 2021
- REGISTRATION OPEN: Cartoon Business conference in Gran Canaria (Spain). 8-10
- CALL FOR ENTRIES: Fest Anča. Festival: June 29-July 3, 2022. Free Submission Deadline: Dec. 31, 2021 | Paid Submission Period: Jan. 1-31, 2022
- CALL FOR ENTRIES REMINDER: Annecy Mifa Pitches. Festival: June 13-18, 2022. Deadline: February 8, 2022
