According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney is purchasing Marvel comics for a tidy sum of $4 billion.  This will be the second large acquisition in the Iger administration of Disney, the first being the purchase of Pixar for $7 billion in 2006.  The sale will be made mostly in stocks, giving Disney access to 5,000 Marvel characters and stories while Marvel gets the distribution and unparalleled marketing power of the Disney conglomerate.

“Disney already knows how to monetize characters across multiple platforms, and now it has 5,000 (Marvel) characters to apply its success to,” Joyce said. “It helps give Disney a new, rational area to expand its exposure to younger audiences, especially boys, in which  Disney had lost some balance in recent years.” Iger said more Marvel content will, for example, be seen on the boys-centric Disney XD channel.

The companies are still in talks about what effect the merger will have on Marvel movies already in the works, such as CAPTAIN AMERICA, THOR, and IRON MAN 2.

According to AWN, Shane Acker, the up and coming director of the new animated film 9, has joined the crew of in house artists at the the The Gnomon School of Visual Effects.  Acker will head a new short project combining the skills of students and professionals at Gnomon.  Since it’s opening in 2000, Gnomon has been growing in leaps and bounds in curriculum, prestige, and talent.

“Gnomon is this amazing nexus, an artistic crossroads where industry professionals and students come together to study and cross-pollinate ideas. It’s the perfect environment to create innovative short films using the latest in technology and techniques. I always learn an incredible amount from the artists and students I work with, whether in a classroom or in a studio, so I look forward to this great opportunity at Gnomon.”

Before the rise of Acker’s short-turned-feature 9, he created other shorts including THE ASTOUNDING TALENTS OF MR. GRENADE, and THE HANGNAIL.  He also worked as an animator on THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING.

AWN reports that comic super-company Marvel has teamed up with Aniboom, makers of virtual animation studio software, to create a new competition to create the best motion comic with the characters, the Incredible Hulk, Wolverine, and Nova.  The competition is open to anyone in the Aniboom online community of animators, and is accepting submissions till October 5th.


Not only is this contest a search for fresh talent, but also to drive more interest into the newest and popular form of comic entertainment, the motion graphic.  Animation, sound design, and motion graphic have revitalized this medium of illustration and story.

“Aniboom’s community of 8,000 animators in 72 countries identify Marvel’s characters as being among their all-time favorites,” said Uri Shinar, founder and CEO of Aniboom. “Motion Comics are a great example of how animation can create new products and new formats suitable for all platforms.”

This is not the first contest from the people at Aniboom, in fact they have recently teamed up with Fox for the FOX-Aniboom Holiday Animation Challenge contest to see who can create the next holiday classic cartoon.  Aniboom also held the HISTORY contest for the film THE PEOPLE SPEAK.  For more information about Aniboom’s software, community, or contests go to www.aniboom.com.

According to Cartoon Brew, THE SECRET OF KELLS - a full length animated feature by Tomm Moore and Cartoon Saloon,  will be showing one time and one time only at the LA Irish Film Festival.  Contact the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica now to secure your seat for the US’s only screening, on September 26th at 4PM.


THE SECRET OF KELLS is a stunning visual tale of Brendan, a young monk in training, who in one of the darkest times of Irish history must save the most charished artifact of his world, the legendary Book of Kells.


But until then, enjoy the trailer.

According to Variety,  the TV Academy announced the winners of the Special and Individual Achievement in Animation and Cartoon Network picked up five out of the six awards.  These awards are not nominations but full Emmys for individual achievement.

Among the animation winners are character animators Elizabeth Harvatine, for Cartoon Network’s ”Moral Orel,” and Joshua Jennings, for the channel’s ”Robot Chicken.” Also picking up the Emmy will be background painters Joe Binggeli, for Cartoon Network’s “Chowder,” and Chris Roszak, for the cabler’s “The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack.”

Additionally, the net scored an individual achievement in animation Emmy for “Underfist: Halloween Bash” character designer Andy Suriano. And Spike TV picked up the sixth trophy in the category, for “Afro Samurai: Resurrection” art director Shigemi Ikeda.

The animation Emmys will be awarded along with the award for Best Costumes for a Variety/Music Program on September 12th at the Creative Arts Awards.

Animation Magazine reports that a new documentary focusing on the second golden age of Disney Studios animation, WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY will be premiering at the Toronto International Festival.  Created by producer and animation historian Don Hahn,  WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY is an in depth look on how films such as THE LITTLE MERMAID, ALADDIN, and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST took the Disney company out the dark ages of THE BLACK CAULDRON and into a new age of animation and success.

Toronto International Film Festival’s documentary programmer Thom Powers notes, “Waking Sleeping Beauty celebrates the rich history of Disney animation and honors the many writers, artists, and composers who created the Disney magic. The treatment is so thorough that it includes key figures who famously left Disney such as Don Bluth, John Lasseter, and Tim Burton. At one time, children imagined that Walt Disney’s signature meant a film was the creation of one man. This is a more grown-up portrayal that reveals the collaborative, often contentious, experience in all its complexity.”

WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY is not just the celebration of Disney art and artist, but a candid look at studio life and politics at such a dynamic time in the studio’s history.  After the Toronto International Festival, WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY will be coming to theaters in spring of 2010.

Variety reports that the 2008 show STITCH! is scheduled to go prime-time in Japan this October.  Dispite the falling ratings of animation in Japanese prime time, Disney, Madhouse, and TV Asahi are taking a leap with this series based off of the 2002 film LILO AND STITCH.

“Stitch!” whose full title is “Stitch! Itazura Alien no Daiboken” (Stitch! The Big Adventures of a Mischievous Alien), is something of a hybrid, since it is produced for the Japanese market in a collaboration between Disney and the Madhouse studio.

Since the show’s new setting is on a fictional island in the Okinawa group of islands, there will be no Lilo, Nani, or Aloha spirit. The new human characters will be more palatable to an Asian audience.

Well, the remakes are still going strong, but instead of Saturday morning fare or toy franchises, now they are going after more animated features.  Variety reports that Disney and Robert Zemeckis are in talks to remake and revamp the 1968 classic feature THE BEATLES “YELLOW SUBMARINE”.  This psychedelic journey of the mind and Beatles music, has been planned for a 3D face lift with performance-capture acting.

The storyline of the original took place in Pepperland, an undersea paradise protected by Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. When the band is captured by the music-hating Blue Meanies, a soldier is sent to Liverpool to fetch the Fab Four, who hop in the submarine and save the day.

There is no telling how close Zemeckis plans to stay to the trippy original, and Disney has no comment on the project in general.  The plan to bring back the YELLOW SUBMARINE is mostly do to the rising population of The Beatles once again, including the musical LOVE and the September release of the game THE BEATLES: ROCK BAND.

Variety reports that director and producer Martin Hynes will be adapting the soon to be released children’s book “The Magician’s Elephant” for the big screen.  This tale tells of an orphan boy is told by a fortune teller that an elephant will guide him to his missing sister.

“What attracted me to the project was that Fox wanted to make a fable which could both be a classic but not take itself too seriously,” Hynes told Daily Variety. “The film we’ve referenced in terms of tone is ‘The Princess Bride’ — something that kids will enjoy, but adults will love on other levels.”

The book “The Magician’s Elephant” is the third book of Kate DiCamillo to be adapted for screen.  Her other two book-to-screen successes are BECAUSE OF WINN DIXIE and THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX.

We are saddened to report that Virginia Davis-McGhee, Walt Disney’s first star, has passed away at the age of 90 of natural causes.  Virginia Davis-McGhee was born in Kansas City in 1918 was quickly discovered by Disney’s Laugh-O-Gram company at 4 years old. Her first film ALICE’S WONDERLAND combined animation and live action to create a charming short.  When the Laugh-O-Gram failed, Disney convinced Virginia’s family to move to Los Angeles and star in the new ALICE COMEDIES.  Animation Magazine writes,

As Davis told the press years later, the Alice shorts were “always a little story where I would get into the cartoon through a dream or I was hit on the head with a baseball and suddenly I’d find myself in a world of cartoon characters and charming smiles.” Among the most famous of these shorts are Alice’s Wonderland, Alice’s Day at Sea, Alice’s Wild West Show and Alice’s Spooky Adventure.

“… the technique of a finished artist, the unusual ability to follow direction and the disposition of an angel. Not once during the picture was it necessary for me to explain any angle twice and, with all of her mature understanding, the youthful charm still remains, making a rare and appreciated combination.”