previous page
ISSUE
TOC
250
F rame - by -F rame
News & Notes TELEVISION
‘The Simpsons’ Gets Two More Seasons — Without Harry Shearer In a seemingly perfect definition of good news-bad news, The Simpsons has been picked up for two more seasons, but they will be without the iconic voice of Harry Shearer, who left the program in a contract dispute. The two additional seasons will the 27th and 28th for the long-running Fox series, which recently concluded its 26th season. The extension will bring the series’ episode count to a whopping 625 episodes. Meanwhile, Shearer’s departure has the show’s producers saying they will re-cast the many iconic roles he voiced, including Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders and Smithers. The Simpsons showrunner Al Jean wrote in an email to the press: “Harry Shearer was offered the same deal the rest of the cast accepted, and passed. The show will go on and we wish him well. Maggie took it hard.” The actor said over Twitter: “I wanted what we’ve always had: the freedom to do other work.”
FEATURES
Animal Logic Expands, Will Open A Second Studio in Vancouver Award-winning Australian visual-effects and animation studio Animal Logic expanded its long-established relationship with Warner Bros. by signing a threepicture deal that will see the company set up in Vancouver its second animation studio. Animal Logic Vancouver will launch as an exclusive partnership with the studio to produce a trio of films, the first of which will be the LEGO Movie sequel. The facility is on track to open in September and is expected to create 300 skilled jobs.
FEATURES
Focus Picks Up ‘Ratchet & Clank,’ Voice Cast, Release Date Set Focus Features has been appointed the U.S. theatrical distributor for the CG animated feature Ratchet & Clank, which will hit theaters April 29, 2016. The CG-animated feature film is based on the iconic PlayStation video 4 www.animationmagazine.net
TOC
game franchise, created and developed by Insomniac Games. The movie also released info on its cast, which includes Paul Giamatti, John Goodman, Bella Thorne, Rosario Dawson and Sylvester Stallone.
FEATURES
Disney Posts Strong 2nd Quarter Earnings of $2.1 billion The Walt Disney Co. exceeded expectations in reporting second-quarter earnings of $2.1 billion. Overall revenues rose 7 percent to $12.5 billion. Breaking down revenue into segments, studio entertainment revenues were down 6 percent to $1.7 billion, with income from Big Hero 6 falling short of the high mark set in this quarter last year by Frozen.
TELEVISION
New Animated Series and Specials Coming to Adult Swim Adult Swim has announced 30 new original series, specials and pilots joining its slate of returning hits for the 2015-16 season. Animated highlights include: TV Sucks: A new quarter-hour animated sketch show created by Brad Neely (China, IL) that features a collection of frenetic oneoff bits, shorts, and songs, all filtered through Neely’s signature visual style. Robot Chicken DC Comics Special III: Friendship is Magic Bad Guys (pilot): Taste. Design. Marketing. Looking fresh to death. These are things that are lost on modern-day terrorists, but one man is going to change the game forever in this quarter-hour animated series about a bombastic, megalomaniac terrorist and his upstart terrorist organization. Mr. Neighbor’s House (pilot): Brian Huskey (Childrens Hospital, Veep), is like any other kids show host, except that he is barely able to contain the suppressed rage boiling underneath his quiet demeanor. Ballmastrz 9669 (pilot): Thousands of years in the future, the only game that matters is The Game, and the new breed of heroes that play it. Created by Christy Karacas (Superjail!) and produced by Titmouse.
Apollo Gauntlet (pilot): Trapped in another world, a cop from Earth can finally fight crime the way he wants after acquiring talking magical gauntlets. Created by Myles Langlois and produced by Six Point Harness. Bubblegoose and Juice (pilot): Two best friends share a tiny apartment as they try to maneuver through an unpredictable, supernatural, bizarro world, while still keeping up with the latest kicks. Created by Carl Jones (Black Dynamite). Hot Streets (pilot): FBI Agent Mark Branski and his partner David French investigate supernatural phenomena, secretly aided by his niece and her cowardly dog, Chubbie Webbers. Produced by Stoopid Buddy Stoodios. Creataceous Caligula (Pilot): From the depths of the La Brea tar pits comes a gang of dinosaur freaks, led by a T. rex Caligula, that wants to take over mutant Gross Angeles. Doble Fried (pilot): Doble Fried is a 6-pack of carnival freaks that runs a low-rent amusement park on the border of Mexico and Not-Mexico. Fisthead (pilot): A loose-cannon action hero with a fist for a head indiscriminately destroys not only villains, but his normal brother’s life as well. OMG! Earth (pilot): A quarter-hour stop-motion animated comedy series featuring small plastic action figures going on larger-than-life adventures in the real world. Produced by Stoopid Buddy Stoodios.
TELEVISION
‘Phineas and Ferb’ Sets Finale; Creators Prep ‘Mikey Murphy’s Law’
Phineas and Ferb has set a date for its series finale, even as creators Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh announce a new series titled Mikey Murphy’s Law for Disney XD. The show is scheduled to premiere in 2017 and will tell the story of the fictional great-greatgreat-great grandson of the Murphy’s Law namesake.
june 15
previous page
