BURBANK, CA (June 26, 2014) – Get set for fur-flying fun and delightfully zany cat and mouse high jinks withTom and Jerry: The Lost Dragon, the brand-new, full-length animated film, which is set for release September 2, 2014, from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (WBHE). Join Tom and Jerry on a captivating adventure as the tussling twosome come upon an adorable baby dragon who is separated from his mother. Mama dragon is about to breathe fire unless she’s reunited with her precious baby! Will Tom and Jerry set aside their constant bickering to help reunite the family? Tom and Jerry: The Lost Dragon will be sold in standard DVD which retails for $19.98 SRP.  Tom and Jerry: The Lost Dragon will also be available on Digital HD day and date with the DVD on September 2, 2014.
Everyone’s favorite cat and mouse duo is back with song, sorcery and slapstick in this enchanted tale. The adventure begins when Tom and Jerry happen upon a mysterious glowing egg. Little do they know, this egg was stolen from a very large, fire-breathing dragon! In short time, baby Puffy hatches from his egg and takes Tom as his mommy. The angry dragon mom wants her baby back, but she’s not the only one…a powerful witch named Drizelda captures the baby dragon for her own wicked plans! With the help of powerful allies and animal friends, Tom and Jerry must fight tooth and claw to stop the witch and get the baby dragon back to its mother. The action takes flight in a climactic ending filled with might, magic and cartoon mayhem of course! Can Tom and Jerry help this tale end happily ever after? Find out with this rip-roaring escapade for the whole family!
Bonus Episodes:
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Medieval Mouse
Fire Breathing Tom Cat
Medieval Menace
The Itch
Originally created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, Tom and Jerry emerged during Hollywood’s golden age of animation and became one of the most popular cartoon series in existence. The shorts focus on the never-ending rivalry between Tom the cat and Jerry the mouse. The plots of each short usually center on Tom’s attempts to capture Jerry. Jerry however, is clever and quick on his feet so Tom hardly ever manages to catch him.
“This film will delight viewers with legendary Tom and Jerry antics presented in an entertaining new story that’s perfect for the entire family to enjoy together,†said Mary Ellen Thomas, Vice President Family & Animation Marketing. She added, “Tom and Jerry: The Lost Dragon is a whimsical story about magic and classic dragon lore that is filled with music, humor, endearing characters and, gorgeous animation. If you love Tom and Jerry or just want to enjoy a great family film, this title is a must have for your home entertainment library.â€
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The Credits
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About Warner Bros. Animation
Warner Bros. Animation (WBA) is one of the leading producers of animation in the entertainment industry, producing and developing both CG and traditionally animated projects for multiple platforms, both domestically and internationally. For TV, WBA produces series such as Teen Titans Go!, The Tom and Jerry Show and the upcoming Be Cool Scooby-Doo! and Wabbit – A Looney Tunes Production for Cartoon Network; original animated DC Nation shorts for Cartoon Network; and Beware the Batman and the forthcoming Mike Tyson Mysteries series for Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. As the home of the iconic animated characters from the DC Comics, Hanna-Barbera, MGM and Looney Tunes libraries, WBA also produces highly successful animated films — including the DC Universe Animated Original Movies — for DVD. One of the most-honored animation studios in history, WBA has won six Academy Awards®, 35 Emmy® Awards, the George Foster Peabody Award, an Environmental Media Award, a Parents’ Choice Award, the HUMANITAS Prize, two Prism Awards and 20 Annie Awards (honoring excellence in animation).
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About Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc.
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (WBHE) brings together Warner Bros. Entertainment’s home video, digital distribution and interactive entertainment businesses in order to maximize current and next-generation distribution scenarios. An industry leader since its inception, WBHE oversees the global distribution of content through packaged goods (Blu-ray Discâ„¢ and DVD) and digital media in the form of electronic sell-through and video-on-demand via cable, satellite, online and mobile channels, and is a significant developer and publisher for console and online video game titles worldwide. WBHE distributes its product through third party retail partners and licensees, as well as directly to consumers through WBShop.com and WB Ultra.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, June 26, 2014 ACCLAIMED ANIMATOR GLEN KEANE DEBUTS NEW SHORT FILM PROJECT, “DUET,” AT GOOGLE I/O CONFERENCE A celebration of life through the hand-drawn line, DUET is the latest in a series of Google ATAP’s Spotlight Stories, interactive short films made exclusively for mobile devices Acclaimed animator Glen Keane unveiled a first look at his latest and most personal project to date, DUET, as part of a special ATAP (Advanced Technology and Projects) Session this morning at the Google I/O Conference in San Francisco, California. Presented together with Regina Dugan, who leads the ATAP group, Glen gave a live demonstration and talk through the creative process behind DUET. The public can view the entire presentation via YouTube here… Animated in its entirety and directed by Glen Keane (former Disney animator and creator of such beloved characters as Ariel, Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, Tarzan and Rapunzel), DUET tells the story of Mia and Tosh and how their individual paths in life weave together to create an inspired duet. The unique, interactive nature of the story allows the viewer to seamlessly follow the journey of either of the two characters from birth to adulthood. DUET is the third in a series of Spotlight Stories, which is a new way of telling stories on mobile devices. The stories blend world-class artistry with innovative rendering and interaction technology for mobile to create a new canvas for the next generation of storytelling. DUET is the first traditionally animated, hand-drawn film to debut as a Spotlight Story. The film offers a glimpse into what’s possible on mobile devices, a rich, modern canvas for creative expression and immersive works of art and technology. DUET will officially launch later this year and will be available on all capable devices with proper hardware capabilities and OS version higher than Android 4.2.
The Duet short start’s at 1:15:08 so be sure to check that out too!
ABOUT GLEN KEANE AND GLEN KEANE PRODUCTIONS
A 38-year veteran of Walt Disney Feature Animation, Glen Keane is most noted for creating and animating such legendary Disney characters as Ariel in “The Little Mermaidâ€, Aladdin, Pocahontas, the Beast from “Beauty and the Beastâ€, and Tarzan. Glen also served as Supervising Animator and Executive Producer on Disney’s 2010 box office hit, “Tangled”. In the spring of 2012, Glen decided to leave Disney Studios in pursuit of further artistic exploration. In his departure letter he stated: “I am convinced that animation really is the ultimate art form of our time with endless new territories to explore. I can’t resist its siren call to step out and discover them.” In 2013, he launched Glen Keane Productions to pursue his personal projects.
ABOUT ATAP ATAP is a small band of makers and believers charged with breakthrough innovations in mobile computing and accelerating the development of promising technologies to market. PUBLICITY CONTACT: Fumi Kitahara, the pr kitchen fumi@theprkitchen.com 310-291-9716
Today, we’re rolling out a new feature on Animation Insider.com where we showcase various shorts and content. If you’d like your content to be showcased contact Mike Milo at mike@animationinsider.com
Check out this cool sizzle piece from Chris Burns and his buddies at Exit 73 studios! Very reminiscent of Samurai Jack but in a good way! Supposedly there’s a web series coming this Winter.
We sat down with Chris for a second to delve a bit more on how this piece was made.
AI: So tell us about your short. What’s it about and who is this angry fella killing everybody? Chris: Brutus is a Gladiator that is ripped from his village and family, to fight for sport in the future under a dark over-lord.  Each battle won will get him closer to seeing his family but once the fabric of time is altered, we get to see a mesh of historic figures, mixed with Sci-fi.  There’s a shot in the short of a robotic Dinosaur, that alludes to this time alteration.  It’s a great excuse to juxtapose all the things we love.  Once Joe brought down the idea to us, my mind started to race, what if a Gladiator got his hands on a modern weapon? What if Genghis Khan was alive during the internet age? etc…
AI:Â How was the film made?
Chris: I like to think we do shape an idea organically and malleable. Joe is a great Idea man, he always has a bunch of series ideas floating around, so once he mentioned Brutus and the concept, we came out of the gates swinging.  I had a vision for Brutus almost instantly, I wanted to mesh a viking persona within a Gladiators sensibility.  The first design he was a little to cartoony, so we toned down the inflated muscles, gave him more of an anatomical makeover, and Brutus was born.  We then had the idea that his chest piece would also be the artifact that enslaves him, and keeps him Captive under the Over-Lord.
From there, Bob started making the music for the short. We liked the trailer format, because it has a natural flow, and you can showcase action, without it feeling contrived. Â He made a bad-ass beat, threw in some awesome breakdowns, and we all the sudden had the timing framework for the short. Â I love working this way, because with the timing somewhat established, and a beat that you can time your shots to, all that is left is filling it in with visuals, much like one would when doing a music video.
AI:Interesting so you boarded to the music? I can see that being helpful for sure!
Chris: Yeah.  and boarding came pretty natural afterwords, we had him cut a monster in half here, a robot smash through a city there, etc… After That we jumped straight into animation and compositing, we bypassed layout.  We had a short amount of time to get all this art work done between 2 people (roughly a month)  that makes you have to think on your toes.  I would do all the bgs and character animation in flash, pass it over to Bob, who would than make a png of the Backgrounds, polish in some detail in photoshop and through it in AfterFX.  By the time he finished that, I would have the next shot, and on and on we would feed each other that work.  Once all the animation was finished in Flash, Bob worked in some serious magic as far as environmental effects, and atmospheric conditions.  When the yeti gets stabbed with ice spear, there’s this gorgeous point when you see fog coming out his mouth, it’s touches like that that really set the mood and I like to think it makes for some to want to re-watch it.
AI: You had mentioned that it’s just a few of you at Exit 73 Studios?
Chris: Yeah… my favorite part of being a small studio, is that we have to use what we have as resources, and within those limitation, you have the chance to think outside the box.  For example a big studio will likely have a character designer, prop designer, colorist, Bg supervisor, and the list goes on, and on and on, until it feels like your assembling a car rather than a film.  We are subjected to do all those things, on a shoe string budget, with very limited manpower. Our solution is use the Character design as suggestion, to help make the shot most pleasing to the eye.  Too often composition takes a back seat to these strict designs that are made by someone a few weeks back…. My question is why? We are blessed enough to be working in a medium that we can literally draw whats in our imagination, and than we stifle that urge because of these rules that we created, for reasons that escape me.  There are 27 shots in Brutus the Bound, that’s roughly 3 seconds a shot on average, and all of them have a varied design of Brutus.  In close ups we have a lot of detail in his face,  Far shots we lost the face all together.  My philosophy is make the shot exciting and people will want to see more.  You tell a coherent story with surprisingly little character reference.
AI: Well thanks for telling us about your short Brutus the Bound! I guess we can also look for it this Winter?
Chris: Our audience can absolutely expect more content this winter, but exact date hasn’t been set yet as we’re working on what we will be making whether it be pilot sized first episode, or a series of shorts. There’s even some talk of making the concept suited for a game!
This position is for a senior character animator for our “RockDog†feature animation team.
In our Dallas studio location ONLY!
The senior animator is responsible for bringing characters to life by creating performances based off the storyboards and layout to the Directors vision. We are looking for proactive, ambitious, self-starters who are excited to work for a growing company.
Duties and Responsibilities
· Create lip-sync, facial, and body character animation as well as prop animation
· Partner with the Director, Animation Supervisor and other staff in order to understand and execute creative direction
· Maintain high quality and productivity throughout projects
· Communicate work status to the Animation Supervisor and Production Management staff
· Attend dailies, accurately address critique and comments from supervisors, and complete revisions in a timely manner
· Consistently meet production deadlines
Education and Experience Requirements
Requires 3 – 5 years experience in Feature Film production with an emphasis on character animation
· Strong demonstration of animation principles, timing, and acting choices
· Ability to create broad and subtle styles of animation
· Proficient with Maya
· Ability to work in a team environment and take direction
· Ability to provide feedback to other artists
· Excellent communication, interpersonal, and organizational skills
· A creative problem solver who is organized and critical of his or her own work.
· A history of consistent high-end aesthetic and technical execution
Note: This job description is not meant to be all inclusive. Employee may be required to perform other duties to meet the ongoing needs of the organization
Deadline.com is reporting that Disney has picked up Noah Z. Jones’ “Pickle and Peanut” show for their 2015 season. Joel Trussell is set to Executive Produce.
Disney Television Animation has launched production on a new series about a pair of unlikely buddies: an emotional pickle and a freewheeling peanut. Jon Heder and Johnny Pemberton provide the respective voices for Pickle & Peanut, which is slated for a fall 2015 premiere on Disney-branded channel and platforms around the world. Created by Noah Z. Jones (Fish Hooks), the series mixes 2D animation and live-action in telling the story of small-town underdogs trying to be anything but ordinary. Joel Trussell (Yo Gabba Gabba!) developed Pickle & Peanut and serves as executive producer with Jones. Mark Rivers is the story editor. “We see very few pitches that are as funny and original as Pickle & Peanut,†said Eric Coleman, SVP Original Series at Disney TV Animation. “We instantly fell in love with these characters, and Noah and Joel have built a world with a visual style and sensibility unlike anything on TV.†The toon unit also said today that it has ordered a third season of its Mickey Mouse cartoon shorts and Season 2 of Craig McCracken’s comedy Wander Over Yonder.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, June 26, 2014 ACCLAIMED ANIMATOR GLEN KEANE DEBUTS NEW SHORT FILM PROJECT, “DUET,” AT GOOGLE I/O CONFERENCE A celebration of life through the hand-drawn line, DUET is the latest in a series of Google ATAP’s Spotlight Stories, interactive short films made exclusively for mobile devices 
