The International Licensing Expo, held every year in Las Vegas, is a great change to get a first look at cool upcoming new movies as various merchandise companies compete to get a chance to serve the movie studios with new character-themed lunchboxes, t-shirts, cel phone app’s and more. The folks at ComingSoon.net and Cartoon Brew recently presented a report on this year’s expo, with the latter of course mostly looking at animated films of note. Among them are two from Dreamworks, Madagasgar 3 and Rise of the Guardians, and one from Illumination, the Lorax. In Madagasgar 3, hitting theaters next June, Alex the Lion and his friends join a traveling circus in hopes of getting back to New York City. Rise of the Guardians (formerly The Guardians of Childhood) is based on an upcoming book by William Joyce (creator of Rolie Polie Olie and Meet the Robinsons). It tells the story of four childhood heroes — Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and Jack Frost — who join forces to prevent The Boogeyman from sending the world into eternal darkness. It’s scheduled for release in November of 2012. And of course The Lorax is based on the popular (and shamelessly controversial) children’s book by Dr. Seuss, telling the story of a forest spirit who attempts to save his home from destruction by industry. It’s coming to theaters next March from Universal Pictures.
Dreamworks
Meet the New Panda’s Director
Cartoon Brew has posted an article with pictures and a video interview with Jennifer Yuh Nelson, director of Kung Fu Panda 2 — which, to remind you all, is coming to theaters this Friday, May 27th. According to the article, Ms. Nelson may well be the first woman to direct a major Hollywood animated feature on her own. Ms. Nelson has already made quite a name for herself in animation — check out her resume’ from the studio’s press release! Most recently (prior to this new feature, that is), she directed the 2D dream sequence which opened the first Kung Fu Panda movie.
image c. 2011 Dreamworks Animation
Rumblewick, the Movie
Recently (as in March), Dreamworks Animation announced they have begun work upon a new film called Rumblewick. ” Director Tim Johnson (Over The Hedge, Antz) and writer Jim Herzfeld (Meet the Fockers, Meet the Parents) are collaborating on the feature project, which is inspired by the children’s book, My Unwilling Witch (The Rumblewick Letters) by Hiawyn Oram and Sarah Warburton. DreamWorks Animation development executives Chris Kuser and Gregg Taylor are overseeing the project at the studio. Rumblewick will follow the adventures of a magician’s rabbit for whom the invitation to learn real magic and train as a witch’s familiar seems like a dream come true! But the dream becomes a nightmare when he discovers he’s really a pawn in a game between rival witches. Having learned the hard way that when something seems too good to be true it probably is, he must outsmart them both to save his fuzzy little hide.” No word yet on a planned release date, but stay tooned!
image c. 2011 Dreamworks Animation
Dragons and Pandas coming to TV
Not long after announcing that the sequel to the wildly popular film How to Train Your Dragon will be released to theaters in 2013, Dreamworks Animation let it be known that a brand new How to Train Your Dragon weekly TV series will be premiering on Cartoon Network in 2012. IGN has a lot of information about the new series up on line. Although we’ve been told that the TV series will feature the same characters in the same world as the feature film, it’s not been announced if any of the cast or crew from the feature will be working on the new series. And speaking of television: Don’t forget that sometime this fall, the much-delayed Kung Fu Panda TV series Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness is set to premier on Nickelodeon.
Time to Cast Your Vote!
The Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Association (ALAA) has announced the nominees for the 2011 Ursa Major Awards, celebrating the best anthropomorphic offerings of 2010. “More formally known as the Annual Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Awards, the Ursa Major Awards are presented annually for excellence in the furry arts. They are intended as Anthropomorphic (a.k.a. Furry) Fandom’s equivalent of the Hugo Awards (presented by the World Science Fiction Society), mystery fandom’s Anthony Awards, horror fandom’s Bram Stoker Awards, and so forth” [from the Ursa Majors web site]. And so, the nominees in ten categories are:
Best Anthropomorphic Motion Picture (Live-action or animated feature-length movies):
Alpha and Omega, from Lionsgate
How To Train Your Dragon, from Dreamworks Animation
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole, from Village Roadshow Pictures and Warner Brothers
Toy Story 3, from Walt Disney Pictures and Dreamworks Animation
The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader, from Walden Media and 20th Century Fox
Best Anthropomorphic Dramatic Short Work or Series (TV series, one-shots, advertisements, or short videos):
Adventure Time, from Pendleton Ward and Cartoon Network
Foxy Bingo, ad campaign produced for Foxy Bingo
Mongrels, from BBC Three
Orangina Naturally, ad campaign produced by Gorgeous Enterprises for Orangina
The Regular Show, from Cartoon Network
Wallace & Gromit’s World of Invention, from Aardman Animations and BBC One
Best Anthropomorphic Novel (Written works of 40,000 words or more):
Basecraft Cirrostratus by Justin Lamar
Descent by Phil Geusz
Otters In Space by Mary Lowd
Save The Day by D. J. Fahl
The Seventh Chakra by Kevin Frane
Shadow of the Father by Kyell Gold
Best Anthropomorphic Short Fiction (Stories less than 40,000 words, poetry, and other short written works):
Bridges by Kyell Gold
False Dawn by Kyell Gold
Felis Ex Machina by E. O. Costello
Gerty and the Doesn’t-Smell-Like-a-Melon by Mary E. Lowd
The Peculiar Quandary of Simon Canopus Artyle by Kevin Frane
Best Anthropomorphic Other Literary Work (Story collections, comic collections, graphic novels, non-fiction works, and convention program books):
Furpiled #4 by Leo Magna
Different Worlds, Different Skins, edited by Will A. Sanborn
Iron Claw Bestiary by Chris Goodwin
i.s.o. #1 by Vince Suzukawa
Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary by David Sedaris
Best Anthropomorphic Graphic Story (Comic books and serialised online stories):
Concession by Immelmann
Furthia High by QuetzaDrake
Cruelty by Rukis
Lackadaisy by Tracy J. Butler
Twokinds by Tom Fischbach
Best Anthropomorphic Comic Strip (Newspaper-style strips, including those with ongoing arcs):
Broken Plot Device by Lis Boriss
Faux Pas by Robert and Margaret Carspecken
Little Tales by Genesis Eve Whitmore
Housepets! by Rick Griffin
Sandra and Woo by Powree and Oliver Knörzer
Best Anthropomorphic Magazine (Professional magazines, amateur zines, fanzines, internet-only magazines):
Anthropomorphic Dreams Podcast, by Will A. Sanborn
Heat, published by Sofawolf
New Fables, edited by Tim Susman
South Fur Lands, edited by Bernard Doove
Tales of the Tai-Pan Universe, edited by Gene Breshears
Best Anthropomorphic Published Illustration (Illustrations and cover art for books, magazines, convention program books; coffee table portfolios):
Big Red: Lady Sings the Blues by Richard Bartrop (Midwest Fur Fest program book illo)
Cenotaph by Susan Rankin-Pollard (Spontoon Island fanzine illo)
The Seventh Chakra (cover) by Kamui
Shadow of the Father (cover) by Sara Palmer
New Fables Summer 2010 (cover) by Mary Mouse
Best Anthropomorphic Game (Computer or console games, role-playing games, board games):
Disney Epic Mickey, from Junction Point Studios and Disney Interactive Studios
Furry Basketball Association (on-line roleplaying game)
Rocket Knight, from Climax Studios and Konami
Sam & Max: Season 3, Episode 1: The Penal Zone, from Telltale Games
Sonic Colors, from Dimps and Sega
Voting for the 2011 Ursa Major Awards will be open until April 17th. To find out how to cast your vote, visit the web site at www.ursamajorawards.org. Also, check out the Ursa Major Awards Live Journal to see links to some great examples from each of the nominees.
Big Changes at ASIFA-Hollywood
For those of us cartoon fans (and would-be animators) who’ve been following the controversy between ASIFA Hollywood (the largest chapter of the International Animated Film Society, and home of the Annie Awards for animation) and Disney/Pixar, this is some big news: A shake-up in the leadership of the Hollywood Chapter, and news of some big changes planned for how the organization works. Cartoon Brew has the story, quoted here from the ASIFA-Hollywood Press release: “ASIFA-Hollywood has announced the selection of its new President, Frank Gladstone, at its February board meeting. Gladstone replaces Antran Manoogian who held the position for over 20 years. Longtime ASIFA-Hollywood VP [and TAG President Emeritus] Tom Sito chose not to run for re-election; taking his place is Jerry Beck [one of the head-honchos at Cartoon Brew — ye ed-otter]. ‘First and foremost, we owe Antran Manoogian an enormous amount of respect and admiration for his many years of selfless devotion to ASIFA-Hollywood,’ says Gladstone. ‘Antran has seen the organization through a period of unparalleled growth and success, going from a small club to an organization of over 4000 members. During his stewardship, Antran established, among many achievements, a digital archive, and built the Annie Award into the most important honor in animation. Though I’ve been part of ASIFA and the animation community for a long time, I am looking forward to being the ‘new face’ of the organization and to making some significant changes to the status quo. For starters, this includes updating our membership qualifications, establishing a representative voice for every animation studio and creative technique, building an advisory board of animation luminaries and revising the voting structure of the annual Annie Awards. In the next few weeks ASIFA-Hollywood will be holding meetings with executives from all the major studios to get their input on how we can improve our infrastructure. ASIFA-Hollywood will take this time to ask its members, both individual and corporate, to come together and advise them on how best to chart the course for decades to come. In addition they will invite many of its members to join the executive board.’ Frank Gladstone has been a professional animator, producer, director, writer and teacher, first managing his own studio, and then working in management positions for Disney, Warner Bros. and DreamWorks, among others. He is currently the CEO of the animation consulting firm, Gladstone Film, teaches worldwide and is the ‘artist-in-residence’ for the ACME Network.”
Get Ready for Kung Fu Panda — Again
Anticipation is building for the return of Dragon Warrior Po the panda and his compatriots in this summer’s Kung Fu Panda 2, hitting screens in May from Dreamworks Animation. Before that though, Kizoic Comics (an imprint of Ape Entertainment) brings us a new one-shot Kung Fu Panda 2 full-color prequel comic, illustrated by Dan Schoening. Taking place between the two movies, the new comic follows the story of Po struggling to balance being the Dragon Warrior, a good son, and a noodle waiter all at once! The one-shot will be followed by a new Kung Fu Panda comic book series beginning May 4th, as well as a special Kung Fu Panda mini-comic for Free Comic Book Day. Ape Entertainment has a preview of all of this on their web site.
And Speaking of Awards…
Saturday the 5th of February it was time once again for the annual Annie Awards, presented by the International Animated Film Society (ASIFA) for the best in animation. This year, of course, was the year of controversy for the Annies, now that Disney/Pixar have pulled their sponsorship and official participation in the awards due to what they feel are flawed and lop-sided voting practices. Specifically, they’ve accused the Annies of being overly weighted toward Dreamworks Animation productions. Probably because there is a very large percentage of ASIFA that includes Dreamworks employees as members. Probably because at one point Dreamworks was offering to subsidize its employees’ membership in ASIFA, while Disney and Pixar were not. So, it probably didn’t sit well at all with Disney and Pixar that Dreamworks’ How to Train Your Dragon swept the Annie Awards this year, much like Kung Fu Panda did a couple of years ago. In fact, this year, the Kung Fu Panda Holiday TV special also swept the Annie Awards in the television categories. Here’s a recap from Variety: “DreamWorks Animation ended up with 15 Annie Awards, 10 for How to Train Your Dragon and five for its television production Kung Fu Panda Holiday. In addition to best picture, Dragon picked up nods for helmers Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, animated effects, character animation, character design, music, production design, storyboarding, voice acting for Jay Baruchel [Hiccup], and writing. Kung Fu Panda Holiday was named the top TV production and racked up trophies for character animation, direction, production design, and voice acting for James Hong [Mr. Ping].” Other awards from the evening (ones that Furry Fans might notice) included T.U.F.F. Puppy winning two awards for storyboards and character design (in a TV production). Ryan Page won the first ever Annie Award for “Character Animation in a Live Action Production” for his work on Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. The evening also featured lifetime achievement awards (the Windsor McCay Award) for director Brad Bird (who joked in a video clip about his move from directing animation to live action), veteran animator Eric Goldberg, and creator Matt Groening (who joked live about the fact he’s spent 23 years in animation and only done two things: The Simpsons and Futurama). You can read more about the Annie Awards — and soon, see pictures from the show — on their web site.
Not the Oscar Surprises We Expected…
This morning the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced the nominees for the 83rd annual Academy Awards (the “Oscars”), to be presented on Sunday, February 27th. As everyone expected, Disney Pixar’s Golden Globe-winning Toy Story 3 (the biggest world-wide money maker released in 2010) was nominated for Best Picture of the Year (which a lot of people are saying it will not win) and Best Animated Feature (which a lot of people are saying it will win). TS3 was also nominated for awards in the categories of Best Song (by Randy Newman, of course), Best Sound Editing, and… Best Adapted Screenplay?? It seems that the Academy considers a sequel film to be “adapted from a previous existing medium” because it uses previously created characters and settings. Or so we’ve been told. Fine. Dreamworks’ How to Train Your Dragon was also nominated for Best Animated Feature, as well as Best Original Score (by John Powell). Interestingly, the third slot for Best Animated Feature went to The Illusionist from France, whereas the Golden Globe Awards had chosen Sony’s Despicable Me. Other furry-themed pictures to watch include Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland from Disney, which was nominated in the categories of Best Makeup, Best Costume Design, Best Art Direction, and Best Visual Effects. Check out CinemaBlend.com for a complete listing of nominees. Of course, before the Oscars come the Annie Awards for animation on February 5th. It’s always interesting to see how the two groups of awards compare.
