Animation

Funimation Acquires Rurouni Kenshin Film Trilogy

Tue, 06/28/2016 - 11:47 -- Nick Dager

Funimation Films has acquired the Rurouni Kenshin live action, samurai film trilogy. The trilogy, distributed by GAGA Corporation, includes Rurouni Kenshin: Origins (released as Rurouni Kenshin internationally), Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno and Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends. Funimation has secured the exclusive North American rights to theatrical, home entertainment, video on demand and broadcast distribution of all three titles as part of its agreement with GAGA.

Video’s Worth How Many Words?

Mon, 05/23/2016 - 11:31 -- Nick Dager

Kanye West was honored at last week’s 20th Annual Webbys with the Artist Of The Year award, in recognition of the social media phenomenon’s pioneering use of the internet and his impact on the music landscape. The ceremony’s rules limit the winners’ acceptance speeches to five words, presenting West, who’s known for his lengthy orations, with a challenge. Houses in Motion, the Brooklyn-based animation and production studio, crafted an animation-driven retrospective of the artist’s year, with a video montage that includes abstract design elements, graphics, skewed images, and samplings of the artist’s tweets.

Platige Image Relies on Qube

Tue, 02/23/2016 - 13:15 -- Nick Dager

Platige Image has created cinematics for AAA games and commercials for Coca-Cola. It's produced viral teasers for the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission and visual effects for Lars von Trier's Antichrist. It's won two BAFTAs, and has been nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden Palm at Cannes, and a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. And for the last five years the Polish animation and visual effects house has relied on Pipeline FX’s Qube render farm management system. “It's impossible to count how many shots we've rendered through Qube,” says Platige lighting artist Krzysztof Dębski. “It must be in the hundreds of thousands.”

House Play

Tue, 02/23/2016 - 11:52 -- Nick Dager

Houses in Motion was called upon by Nick Jr. to produce a playful broadcast package that brightens its young viewers’ winter with a Warm & Fuzzy feeling. The integrated series of promos, IDs, and bumpers features stylized versions of established characters from the network’s popular children’s programming and introduces a new crew of adorable critters. Houses brought their message to life through stop motion animation that echoes the characters’ organic, handcrafted qualities.

Laika Receives Technical Oscar

Wed, 02/17/2016 - 12:01 -- Nick Dager

Laika was honored at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ Scientific & Technical Awards on Saturday, February 13 in Beverly Hills, California. Brian McLean and Martin Meunier received the Scientific and Engineering Award for Laika’s pioneering use of rapid prototyping for character animation in stop-motion film production. Laika, the animation studio located just outside Portland, Oregon, has produced three films, all of which have earned Oscar nominations for Outstanding Animated Film.

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The Boy and The Beast Set to Open March 4

Tue, 02/09/2016 - 12:36 -- Nick Dager

Funimation Films announced today that The Boy and The Beast, the newest Mamoru Hosoda film, will open March 4 in more than 100 theaters across the U.S. Theatergoers will have the option to watch either the original Japanese language version (with English subtitles), the new English dub version produced by Funimation, or both, depending on theater location.

Laika Names Bradley Wald CFO

Tue, 02/02/2016 - 10:49 -- Nick Dager

Laika, the Portland-based feature film animation studio whose first three films have each garnered Oscar nominations for Best Animated Film, has appointed Bradley Wald to the post of chief financial officer and senior vice president of business operations. The announcement was made today by Laika president and CEO Travis Knight.

Laika Celebrates a Decade of Animation

Tue, 12/15/2015 - 12:12 -- Nick Dager

Laika, the award-winning animation studio nestled in the heart of the Pacific Northwest, celebrates 10 years of bold and memorable filmmaking this month. For a company whose name means “little barker” in Russian, Portland, Oregon-based Laika has made quite a noise in the global film industry over a relatively short time. With its world-class filmmaking team, Laika pushes the boundaries of family entertainment and animated movies, redefining what stories can and should be told through the art form.

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The Boy And The Beast gets Annie Nomination

Fri, 12/04/2015 - 10:53 -- Nick Dager

The International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, announced on Tuesday the nominations for its 43rd Annual Annie Awards, which recognize the best in the field of animation. The list included a Best Animated Feature-Independent nomination for Mamoru Hosoda's The Boy and The Beast – the critically acclaimed anime film from Studio Chizu, which is being distributed in the U.S. by Funimation Entertainment.

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