Johnny Depp and Keira Knightley - Animation test

Check out this animation test that GagamanMusic is working on with us! We'll refine it and keep you posted.

Thanks!

- TAE

Kirk De Micco goes from Space Chimps to Crood

Kirk De Micco has made a fantastic career jump from Space Chimps to Crood.

Kirk started out as a writer...

Quest for Camelot (1998) (screenplay)
Racing Stripes (2005) (story)
Here Comes Peter Cottontail: The Movie (2005) (V) (screenplay) (story)
Casper's Scare School (2006) (TV) (story)
Space Chimps (2008) (screenplay) (story)
The Croods (2012) (post-production) (writer)


The Croods will be his second directorial effort (after Space Chimps). So somehow with Space Chimps, Kirk managed to pitch the story and script and get attached as the director. Then he nailed that film, which is what got him into DreamWorks.

Jumping from Vanguard to DreamWorks is huge, because it's like bypassing WB, Universal, Sony, Fox, and Disney. The only animation studio more successful than DW right now is Pixar.

The Croods is also directed by Chris Sanders, who directed Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon. Chris also left Disney when Lassetter demanded a reset of Bolt (which Chris was then directing).

And Kirk's not done with The Croods. He's got quite the lineup that he's writing and maybe directing after that...

Pig Scrolls
The Twits
Gil's All Fright Diner
Hong Kong Phooey

So Hong Kong Phooey is the only one that's obvious. That's a return to Warner Bros (who owns the Hannah Barbara stuff), seeing how Quest for Camelot was at WB.

Enjoy!

Space Chimps 2 is coming direct to DVD for the US release

"Space Chimps 2: Zartog Strikes Back" is coming the 5th of October, 2010 (DVD premiere).



This is interesting, because the first one didn't perform in the US as well as they hoped, and so the sequel has been released in theaters in other countries, but in the US it's going straight to DVD.

Here are the international releases...

UK - 28 May 2010
Israel - 22 July 2010
Kazakhstan - 5 August 2010 (3-D version)
Russia - 5 August 2010 (3-D version)
USA - 5 October 2010 (DVD premiere)
Netherlands - 16 December 2010

Wikipedia still thinks Andy Samberg is going to be in the DVD release, but it doesn't have the news that Space Chimps 2 is coming to DVD for the US.

The director of Space Chimps 2 is John H. Williams. This is his directorial debut (sad that he's debuting on DVD in the US). He produced all four Shrek movies. Using that momentum, he started Vanguard Animation (not a huge leap, considering he was already running Vanguard Films), so that means he also produced Valiant, Happily Never After (but he let the DVD sequel go to the studio execs, which is why it has no name actors and why it's so horrible), Space Chimps, and now Space Chimps 2. Their next project is Emo Boy, based on a comic book. More on Emo Boy: http://comics.wikia.com/wiki/Emo_Boy

Enjoy!

New X-Men movie: X-Men First Class

"Damages" star Rose Byrne is in negotiations to join the cast of Fox's "X-Men First Class," being directed by Matthew Vaughn.

Fox is gearing up for a London shoot at the end of this month and zeroing on the last key pieces of its important franchise.

The movie, whose story line remains under wraps, focuses on Marvel's superpowered X-Men team in a younger incarnation than seen in the previous trilogy.

Byrne will play Moira MacTaggert, a scientist and an authority on genetic mutation. She'll be the love interest of James McAvoy, who plays mutant telepath Charles Xavier.

Among the cast are Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult and Alice Eve.


Read more about Rose here:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i4a25a9f106904fc134a58e236767429a

Enjoy!

Our cartoon: Spider-Man will fall to Dr. Octopus' LASER!!!! (& a butterfly)

Spider-Man can't stand up to Dr. Octopus' new laser! Hahahaha. The technology of Dr. Octopus' new laser is going to take Spider-Man off guard!

Not for the squeamish! Also includes a bonus cartoon: Buttterfly!

Animation by Chris from ItsChrisLife. Go check out his other great animations and GO SUB HIM:

http://youtube.com/itsChrisLife

Subscribe above if you haven't! We've got longer spoofs and shorts coming, as well as more short ones!

Thanks for watching!

- TAE

Disney's King of the Elves got shelved

This is old news, but still.




Back in April of 2008, Disney revealed their line-up of animated movies through 2012. One of them listed for release at Christmas in 2012 (three full years from now) was a project called King of the Elves based on Philip K. Dick's short story. Disney hired Brother Bear co-directors Aaron Blaise and Robert Walker to direct this and we thought it was moving along smoothly.



King of the Elves is a fantasy story about an average man living in the Mississippi Delta, whose reluctant actions to help a desperate band of elves leads them to name him their new king. Joining the innocent and endangered elves as they attempt to escape from an evil and menacing troll, their unlikely new leader finds himself caught on a journey filled with unimaginable dangers and a chance to bring real meaning back to his own life.


Read more: http://www.firstshowing.net/2009/12/23/disneys-philip-k-dick-animated-cg-movie-has-been-shelved/#ixzz0wFIrQEE0


There’s two obvious reasons that King of the Elves may have been axed. The first is that it could be very hard to merchandise; the second is that the source story is actually not really what you’d first think of as a Disney toon. Here’s a minor spoiler - the lead character ends up killing his best friend.

It may simply be that they couldn’t get an expanded version of the short story to play well. The writing and storyboarding process at Disney, as per Pixar and some of their rivals, is a long and arduous one. Sometimes, a film just doesn’t come together.

Read more: Have Disney Canned Their Philip K. Dick Adaptation, King of the Elves? | /Film http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/12/23/have-disney-canned-their-philip-k-dick-adaptation-king-of-the-elves/#ixzz0wFJYCfHe


- TAE

Learn Your ABCs (our animated song)

Join Daz's Zeke character as 5 Star in this simple song about learning your A-B-Cs. Let us know what you think! This includes any preschoolers you have, since that is the intended audience for this.

Animation and Designs by Darren Boyce from Hitmanimation

Produced by Ed 'word' Price.

Rap by Zekness aka 5 Star

Enjoy!