Variety reports that Zack Snyder, director of 300, has signed a deal with EA, launching him into the world of video games.  Snyder will work with EA in their Playa Vista studio to develop game properties which may later spin off into feature films.

“Zack Snyder has a fresh and bold creative style that resonates with our core audience,” EA Games label prexy Frank Gibeau said in a statement. Snyder is joining a small group of Hollywood helmers who produce videogames that aren’t adaptation of their own films, including Spielberg, John Woo and Peter Jackson.

Considering the popularity of “300″ with the young male populous that makes up the core demographic for video games, and the graphic look and content, I have no doubt that Snyder’s games will be very popular and big earners for EA.

Variety reports that Marvel is in talks with Kenneth Branagh to direct one of their upcoming films, “Thor”.

Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige’s choice of Branagh is surprising, as Branagh hasn’t really directed an action-heavy film since his debut on “Henry V,” a bloody telling of the British king’s conquest of France.

Branagh is the latest in a string of directors — such as Jon Favreau (“Iron Man”), Christopher Nolan (the Batman franchise) and Gavin Hood (”X-Men Origins: Wolverine”) — with arthouse roots taking on big-budget comicbook fare.

According to Marvel, the pic will be released in 2010.

Andrew Stanton, director of Wall-E, is currently writing and directing “John Carter of Mars” for Pixar with co-writer Mark Andrews. Stanton is intentionally trying to put a new spin on the classic Edgar Rice Burroughs novel.

Pixar General Manager Jim Morris also said the film will not look like earlier adaptations, “Everything that’s been out there has been an attempt to kind of capture this Deco-esque [Frank] Frazetta vision of JOHN CARTER, which I think feels old and stale,” he said. “And where Stanton is going — from what we’ve seen so far — is very different than that. And I think that the people who really love the essence of the books will really dig it, but so will audiences in general.”

When asked if the film would be created in 3-D, Morris said, “I hope not!”, breaking from the new Hollywood rule that more 3-D is better.

At the beginning of the 20th century Burroughs wrote the story about a Civil War veteran who is transported to Mars and gets involved in various Martian wars and intrigues.

(Story from AWN Headline News)

AWN reported on the celebrity studded showcase Walt Disney Studios held at the Kodak theater Wednesday. The announcements included information on all of their upcoming live action and animated films, with some changes made to scheduling.  The big news was that Johnny Depp is far from over working for Disney.  He is slated to act as the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland”, become Tonto for a live action film based on “The Lone Ranger”, and reprise his role as Jack Sparrow in a fourth Pirates movie.

Scenes were shown from the sequel to Tron “TR2N”, “Prince of Persia”, and Pixar’s “Up”.  The press also got a look at Robert Zemeckis’ new motion capture film “A Christmas Carol”.  John lasseter presented “Bolt” and it was screened in 3-D for the audience.  In Pixar news,

CARS 2 has been pushed up a year, and will open summer 2011. Cook also announced a series of animated shorts surrounding the CARS characters called “Cars Toons” They will premiere on the Disney Channel and in theaters up until the release of the new feature. The shorts previewed on Wednesday — “Mater’s Tall Tales” — focused on lovable tow truck Mater and his hero fantasies as a firefighter, surgeon and matador.

Disney’s ambitious slate consists of 16 3-D live action and animated films scheduled, with five to be released in 2009.

Variety reports that LucasArts’ new addition to the Star Wars videogame franchise, “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed” is selling like hotcakes.  In its first five days, it sold an astounding 1.5 million units worldwide.

Strong debut makes it the fastest-selling game ever from Lucasfilm’s 26-year-old videogame division.

While the launch is impressive, returns are still far behind those of this year’s biggest game, “Grand Theft Auto IV,” which sold more than 6 million units in its first week. But it puts “The Force Unleashed” on track to be one of the year’s biggest vidgames and most likely the No. 1 seller based on a movie license.

Reviews are mixed on “Force”, so only time will tell if it can beat out the previous Star Wars game “Battlefront 2″ which sold 7 million units three years ago.

Variety is reporting that Trion World Network, an online videogame company, raised $70 million in their third round of funding.  Sources of funding include Time Warner and NBCU, Act II Capital, and DCM, and Trinity Ventures.  On the other end of the spectrum, Midway continues to lose money since it was picked up by Sumner Redstone in 2004.  Midway Games is borrowing $40 million from their Redstone’s own National Amusements to fun their slate through the end of the year.  New games in this slate include “Mortal Combat vs. DC Universe”, “TNA Impact”, and “Blitz: The League 2″.

It’s the second loan this year to Midway from National Amusements, an exhibition chain that also serves as an investment vehicle for the Redstone clan. In March, it gave Midway a $90 million credit facility. Sumner Redstone owns approximately 90% of Midway’s stock.

In December, Shari Redstone took over as chairman. She fired former CEO David Zucker in March. The company is still looking for his replacement. Meanwhile, its stock value has continued to fall. On Monday, it closed down 11% at $2.48, giving Midway a total value of just $232 million.

Trion is currently building a massive fantasy online role-playing game to compete with “World of Warcraft”’s popularity.

The Hollywood Reporter says that the Russian channel 2×2 has suspended broadcasting of “South Park” and other shows due to treats of loss of its broadcast license.  

“The channel disagrees with the experts’ decision (on the content of ‘South Park’) but until the situation is cleared out, these animated series won’t be broadcast,” the company said Monday.

Due to its “extremist” content, “South Park”, “The Simpsons”, and “Family Guy are all on hold until the Russian federal service of communications and mass media consider 2×2 broadcast license renewal.  

Meanwhile, the channel is running an ad campaign, in which it says that the recent attacks on the channel from are being masterminded by someone who wants the channel’s frequency. Last weekend, several hundred youths took part in rallies in support of 2×2 in Moscow.

AWN reports that the Ottawa International Animation Festival came to a close last night.  Here’s the list of winners from the closing ceremony showcase:

NELVANA GRAND PRIZE FOR BEST INDEPENDENT SHORT ANIMATION
CHAINSAW (2007), directed by Dennis Tupicoff, Australia

GRAND PRIZE FOR BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Best Animated Feature Film: TERRA, directed by Aristomenis Tsirbas
Honorable Mention: Best Animated Feature Film: SITA SINGS THE BLUES, directed by Nina Paley

GRAND PRIZE FOR BEST STUDENT ANIMATION
I SLEPT WITH COOKIE MONSTER (2008), directed by Kara Nasdor-Jones, U.S.

GRAND PRIZE FOR BEST-COMMISSIONED ANIMATION
Sony Bravia PLAY-DOH (2007), directed by Frank Budgen and Darren Walsh, U.K.

CANADIAN FILM INSTITUTE AWARD FOR BEST CANADIAN ANIMATION
DRUX FLUX (2008), directed by Theodore Ushev, Canada

ANIMATION SCHOOL SHOWREEL
Best Animation School Showreel: Rhode Island School of Design (U.S.)
Honorable Mention: Best Animation School Showreel: Supinfocom (France)

INDEPENDENT SHORT ANIMATION COMPETITION
Narrative Short Animation under 35 minutes: CHAINSAW (2007), directed by Dennis Tupicoff, Australia
Experimental/Abstract Animation under 35 minutes: MUTO (2008), directed by Blu, Italy
Honorable Mention: DIALOGOS, directed by Ulo Pikkov, DRUX FLUX (2008), directed by Theodore Ushev, Canada

STUDENT ANIMATION COMPETITION
Adobe Prize for Best High School Animation: THE DEPOSE OF BOLSKIVOI HOVHANNES, directed by Will Inrig, Canada
Undergraduate Animation: I SLEPT WITH COOKIE MONSTER (2008), directed by Kara Nasdor-Jones, U.S.
Graduation Animation: CAMERA OBSCURA (2007), directed by Matthieu Buchalski, Jean-Michel Drechsler and Thierry Onillon, France

COMMISSIONED ANIMATION COMPETITION
Promotional Animation: Sony Bravia PLAY-DOH (2007), directed by Frank Budgen and Darren Walsh, U.K.
Music Video: Ultimo SPONG ICE (2008), directed by Bolos Quentes Design, Duarte Amorim, Albino Tavares, Miguel Marinheiro and Sergio Couto, Portugal
Television Animation for Adults: People from The Dark Years BATES (2008), directed by John Halfpenny, Canada

ANIMATION MADE FOR CHILDREN
Best Short Animation: THE SWIMMING LESSON,(2008) directed by Danny De Vent, Belgium/Netherlands/France
Honorable Mention: LEON IN WINTERTIME, (2007) directed by Pierre-Luc Granjon and Pascal le Notre, France/Canada
Television Animation for Children: THE UPSTATE FOUR, (2007) directed by Fran Krouse, U.S.
Honorable Mention: THE BUNJIES (2008), directed by Andreas Hykade and Ged Haney, Germany

Variety reports that Anna Faris (The House Bunny) and Bill Hader (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) have been chosen as the voices for the lead characters in “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”, a 3D project by Sony Pictures Animation.

James Caan, Andy Samberg, Bruce Campbell, Mr. T and Tracy Morgan round out the voice cast for the 3-D project, which is set for release Jan. 15, 2010.

Based on the bestselling children’s book written by Judi Barrett and illustrated by Ron Barrett, story is set in a town where food falls from the sky like rain.

Written and Directed by Chris Miller and Phil Lord, while Pam Marsden produces.

“Igor” (produced by Exodus Film Group) will be opening this Friday in theaters nationwide.  Hollywood Reporter’s Stephen Farber reviewed the film, and says “Bottom Line: Great cast can’t turn this into “Shrek.”

Everyone wants to get into the potentially lucrative animation game, and “Igor” illustrates the intriguing internationalization of the genre. The often striking animation was designed at the Sparx Animation Studios in Paris, with a large staff of Vietnamese artists. Although the visuals tantalize and the actors providing the voices add a lot of sass, the result is only so-so. Boxoffice prospects look to be modest at best.

Farber equates the darker-looking film to Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas” than any Disney animated films.  While he admires the design, Farber critiques that the story could have been pushed with “more wickedly satirical touches”.

Click here to read the full review.