Artists Invited to Collaborate In Animating Heroes and Villains for the DC Universe Online Game and Trailer

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 16 /PRNewswire/ — Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) and Mass Animation today announced the DC Universe(TM) Online (DCUO) Animation Contest. The DCUO Animation Contest is version 2.0 of the acclaimed Mass Animation Facebook® application and will give DC Comics fans, gamers and animators a chance to animate heroes and villains from the DC Universe Online game currently in development by Sony Online Entertainment, and to collaborate in creating a CGI trailer and in-game character animations. The DCUO/Mass Animation contest is scheduled to launch on December 7, 2009.
“The DCUO/Mass Animation contest takes a part of the game out of the development studio and puts it in the hands of fans, an empowering opportunity for our community,” said John Smedley, president of SOE. “Players will have a chance through qualified contest submissions to be involved with the game’s development at a deeper level than ever before by animating actions for in-game heroes and villains.”

All the tools that animators will need to collaborate on this project, including a special edition of Autodesk Maya 3D Animation software, storyboards, designs and fully-rigged 3-D models will be provided to contest entrants and accessed through the Mass Animation application on the DCUO Facebook fan page. Participating animators will upload their contest submissions back to the application for viewing, voting and sharing with their friends. New to the contest this year will be the Mass Animation iPhone app, which gives people a new way to view and vote on submissions. Qualified contest winners will receive cash or other prizes. Each week, voters and a panel of judges will help determine what shots qualify as the “best” and will be eligible for voter prizes.

“This new project really gives us the opportunity to expand Mass Animation into the online game sector, where gamers have already been creating in-game customized assets for some time,” said Yair Landau, founder of Mass Animation. “In 2.0, we are opening the animation process to traditional animators as well as gamers and inviting artists to animate some of the coolest most classic characters on the planet such as Superman, Batman, The Joker and Wonder Woman. By opening up the contest to gamers and involving them in asset creation, there will be a real sense of connection to the game before it even launches.”

Mass Animation’s first collaborative animation project, Live Music, is scheduled for theatrical release on November 20th with “Planet 51.” Inspired by Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” and early CGI films, the story follows Riff, a rock ‘n’ roll guitar, who falls in love to the wrong song but ends up with Vanessa, the classical violin of his dreams. A global story told through the universal language of music, the instruments are brought to life through original compositions and familiar rock tunes played principally by legendary guitarist Steve Vai as Riff and acclaimed violinist Ann Marie Calhoun as Vanessa. 51 animators from 17 different countries collaborated in the making of this unique and wonderful film which introduced Mass Animation to the world.

About Sony Online Entertainment

Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) is a recognized worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online games which have entertained millions of players around the globe. SOE creates and delivers compelling entertainment for the personal computer, online, game console and wireless markets. Known for its blockbuster franchise EverQuest®, its successful online trading card game Legends of Norrath®, as well as the recent kids’ phenomenon Free Realms(TM), SOE continues to raise the bar for online gaming and players worldwide. Headquartered in San Diego, with additional studios in Austin, Seattle, Denver, Tucson, and Taiwan, SOE has a slate of engaging, high-quality games currently in development across new genres for all platforms and audiences.

About Mass Animation

Founded in August 2008 by former Sony Pictures Vice Chairman Yair Landau, Mass Animation began with the creation of a virtual studio on Facebook and an open invitation to artists around the world to collaborate in the making of entertainment content thru an innovative new Facebook application. With over 58,000 participants from 101 countries, the company’s first project, Live Music, attracted artists from Kazakhstan to Colombia to collaborate in this completely unique production. When artists arrived at Mass Animation’s virtual studio, they were given the essential tools and animation software necessary to participate, including individual storyboards and 3D models bundled for download along with guidelines on animation and the Autodesk Maya software necessary to actually animate. Thru the social networking features of the application, animated shots could then be viewed, voted on and shared with friends. Mass Animation is currently developing the next generation of stories and applications for worldwide collaborative creativity. To learn more, go to www.massanimation.com

About DC Comics

DC Comics, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, is the largest English-language publisher of comics in the world and home to such iconic characters as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the Sandman. These DC Super Heroes and others have starred in comic books, movies, television series (both animated and live-action) and cyberspace, thrilling audiences of all ages for generations. DC Comics’ Web site is located at www.dccomics.com.

Facebook® is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc.

SOURCE PRNewswire

Neoseeker reports that EA and Visceral Games have announced a Dante’s Inferno animated feature, that will be out in February of 2010. It is to be a “complicated work”  from six international directors and will be done in the Anime Style of animation.

The core story remains the same: Dante seeks to rescue Beatrice’s soul from the Devil.  The feature will be out in February 2010, around the same time its host material is released for consoles and PSP.
The good news is some of the creative teams involved also worked on some killer anime, like Ghost in the Shell,Samurai Champloo, and Blood the Last Vampire.  All is not lost!  No idea what other talents we’ll be seeing, but a trailer was released with the announcement, offering a glimpse of the animation quality.

While Pixar’s “UP” has tremendous buzz around it this year, maybe even more than “WALL-E” last year, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has upped the best picture category to 10 nominations from 5 in previous years. The hollywood reporter thinks the film has a chance at the first coveted dual accolade (Best Film, Best Animated Feature).

A dual accolade would make history: The only instance of an animated movie being nominated for best film was “Beauty and the Beast” in 1991, long before the best animated feature category existed.
A double nomination also would create complications — and not only for Pixar execs who might have to shell out some extra coin on a broader campaign.



Pixar and director Pete Docter might hope that the best-picture momentum will carry it to a victory in the animation category. But for some voters, it could slice the other way, prompting them to choose something else in animation because they’ve already put “Up” high on their best picture ballot. (In that sense, “Up” would be unlucky to be nominated twice.)



The “Up” conundrum isn’t the only drama playing out this year. The animation race is more wide open than ever, thanks to a likely five slots, which are possible (though not mandated) if the Academy qualifies at least 16 animated releases. A whopping 20 films are said to have been submitted this year, a bounty that would nearly double the number of animated slots and essentially create the animation equivalent of the best-picture slot expansion.



That, in turn, could charge up more than a few dark horses. “There’s real anticipation this year because of the possibility we’re finally going to hit the magic number of 16, which would be a real bonus for many of the smaller pictures at the boxoffice and on DVD,” says Animation Magazine’s Ramin Zahed. “We say that every year, but this year there’s a real feeling it could happen.”

The list will be announced within the next week.

GenArts is spreading out once again. Variety reports that GenArts, computer graphics software manufacturer, has just procured Wondertouch, the maker of plugins for VFX including the popular Particleillusion, and plan to turn the software into a plugin for both Mac and PC.  This follows closely by GenArts signing their exclusive partnership with Lucasfilm.

GenArts CEO Katherine Hays told Daily Variety that vfx companies want more off-the-shelf solutions.


“What we’re hearing and finding in the industry is, where in the past they saw a real benefit to building 80% (of their software) and buying 20%, they want to shift that. They want it to be 20% built in-house and 80% standardized tools that are very high-end from a trusted vendor.”

GenArts didn’t just acquire the software, but also Alan Lorence - the creator of Particleillusion.   He will be the senior engineer creating more software for the GenArts company.

Children’s books have always been a go-to place for new movie ideas, and yet another children’s classic is going to the big screen.  AWN reports that Walden Media has just acquired the rights to the popular children’s book series THE BERENSTAIN BEARS by Stan and Jan Berenstain.  With the rights in hand, Walden Media, Nelvana, and 21 Laps plan to turn the series into a live action/CG hybrid feature.

“My mother, Jan, and I are more than delighted that three outstanding names in the field of family entertainment, Shawn Levy, Walden Media and Nelvana, have come together to create a Berenstain Bears feature film,” says Mike Berenstain. “We are thrilled that their plans for an innovative and ambitious production will bring our family’s work to a new medium and to new audiences. I know that my father, Stan, who passed away in 2005, would have been tickled pink that his very own bears were going to be ’in the movies!’”

Stan and Jan Berenstain drew their inspiration for THE BERENSTAIN BEARS from themselves and their sons, Mike and Leo.  From there the series grew into over 250 books, 3 TV animated series, and several video games.

Variety reports that Disney is bringing its main man, or mouse, out of the vault and into video games.  Mickey is staring in a new video game called EPIC MICKEY and taking him back to his roots.  The reason for Mickey’s long hiatus was the fact that the more of an icon he became, the less personality he had.

“I want to remind Mickey that he’s a hero — and to be a hero, we need to give him purpose. We need to throw him up against problems worthy of a hero — not just trying to give Pluto a bath,” Spector said. “I want him to be funny. I want him to struggle. I want to ‘age him up’ a little.” But Spector added that the game will enable players to ultimately decide “what makes Mickey cool.”

EPIC MICKEY puts the hero in a Cartoon Wasteland, have to battle against rejected ideas and creative endeavors that have been banished there.  He fights using a brush and paint thinner Mickey makes and destroys parts as he sees fit.  This art-as-weapon game play is adopted from the popular video game OKAMI from Capcom.

“Realistically, all we’re trying to do is make Mickey the game hero he deserves to be,” he said. “In my secret heart of hearts, I would love to see a movie or a comicbook — and I plant that seed everywhere I can around the company and see if it takes root.”

Disney did try to reinstate Mickey as a leading man in the back-from-the-dead short  RUNAWAY BRAIN, and again in MICKEY, DONALD, GOOFY: THE THREE MUSKETEERS.  The effort was short lived, but maybe just enough to get the ball rolling.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Disney Channel has greenlit the firsts animated series since 2007.  FISH HOOKS places the typical high-school hijinks in a giant fish tank in a pet store.  The series revolves around three fish; Milo, Oscar, and Bea and their lives at Freshwater High.

“The ‘Fish Hooks’ team has created one of the most original, inventive animated series on television, bringing an ingenious twist to the classic archetypes of high school life,” said Gary Marsh, president entertainment at Disney Channels Worldwide. “Where else but in the world of a high school fish tank would you find characters named Piranica, Clamantha or Jocktopus?”

This new Disney Channel show was created by children’s book illustrator Noah Z. Jones, and adapted for TV by Bill Reiss of CHOWDER, Adam Burton of THE GRIM ADVENTURES OF BILLY & MANDY, and Alex Hirsch of THE MARVELOUS MISADVENTURES OF FLAPJACK.   FISH HOOKS is slated to premiere in the fall of 2010.

Macworld reports that the big three comic apps Panelfly, iVerse, and Comics by Comixology have brought Marvel comics to the smallest screen, aka the iPhone.  Several Marvel comics are now available for purchase through the free app. Each comic is $2 through Comics and iVerse, and on sale for $1 on Panelfly.

The Marvel comics available initially from Comixology are Joss Whedon’s 24-issue run on Astonishing X-Men, Robert Kirkman’s five-issue Marvel Zombies miniseries, Ed Brubaker’s first 30 issues of Captain America, and two other X-Men-related books, X-23 and X-Men: Age of Apocalypse, each six issues long.

This comes on the heels of the two popular Marvel motion comics sold through iTunes, ASTONISHING X-MEN, and SPIDER-WOMAN.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Comedy Central has picked up the 13 canceled episodes of the ABC prime-time cartoon THE GOODE FAMILY.  After Comedy Central’s success in picking up the canceled yet beloved show FUTURAMA, the channel has aspirations of bringing other animated shows back from dead.

In “Goode’s” case, cabler likely saw an opportunity to pick up an animated show that wasn’t seen by many viewers during its original run on ABC. Deal also puts Comedy Central in business with Judge — and fits in with the net’s goal of expanding its presence in the animation world.

SIT DOWN, SHUT UP is another animated laugher that didn’t quite make on Fox, but Comedy Central is in talks to pick up this show as well.  Many critics are skeptical that Comedy Central will turn the shows around, but only time will tell.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. is getting back in the feature animation game after a 3 year hiatus.  After its success with HAPPY FEET it seems that Warner decided to rest on its laurels, but now is in final negotiations to pick up a new project.

The move marks a bolstering of animation efforts for Warners., which was once very active in the sector but had since scaled back its theatrical efforts. It did, with director George Miller, develop and produce 2006’s “Happy Feet,” the music-themed penguin pic that earned nearly $380 million worldwide and won the animation Oscar. The studio is developing a sequel.

Very little is known about the new animated project except it centers around a peacock and was pitched by Austin Winsberg and Heath Corson.