Glendale, U.S.A. — DreamWorks Animation, ‘Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted –the 3D third installment in the blockbuster hit franchise about the Central Park Zoosters and their worldwide adventures – has now become the highest-grossing animated film in Russia’s box office history and the third highest-grossing film of all time in Russia. It is the #1 film of the year at the Russian box office and continues to play in theaters there. The top three animated films of all time in Russia are now all DreamWorks Animation pictures: ‘Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted’, ‘Shrek Forever After’ and ‘Puss In Boots’.

Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc., is distributing ‘Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted’ worldwide and Central Partnership is serving as the film’s local distributor in Russia. The film opened in Russia on June 7, 2012 on 1830 screens – the biggest number yet for any film release – and has grossed $48.3 million, or 1.58 billion rubles, to date.

“Russia is one of the most important markets in the world for DreamWorks Animation films and we couldn’t be more proud to have achieved such unprecedented box office results there,” said Jeffrey Katzenberg, Chief Executive Officer of DreamWorks Animation. “We’re incredibly grateful to our audience in Russia for their enthusiastic and historic support of ‘Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted’.”

‘Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted’ has grossed $200 million at the domestic box office and nearly $260 million overseas for a worldwide gross of approximately $460 million to date.

In the highly anticipated third chapter of the Madagascar franchise, Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Gloria the Hippo, and Melman the Giraffe are still fighting to get home to their beloved Big Apple and of course, King Julien, Maurice and the Penguins are all along for the comedic adventure. Their journey takes them through Europe where they find the perfect cover: a traveling circus, which they reinvent – Madagascar style.

Image Courtesy of   Madagascar 3

The article ‘Madagascar 3′ Becomes Russia’s Film of the Year appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

DreamWorks Animation SKG has announced that Tony Award nominee Josh Gad (Love and Other Drugs), who currently appears on Broadway in The Book of Mormon, will star as Stanley, Bill Hader (Saturday Night Live, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs) as his shadow, and Academy-Award nominee Kate Hudson (Almost Famous, Something Borrowed) as Heidi in Me & My Shadow, coming to the big screen on November 13, 2013.

In this original feature film conceived at DreamWorks Animation, the studio will pioneer a groundbreaking combination of both CG and traditional animation techniques, which will be used seamlessly to create a never-before-seen movie experience.

Animation veteran Alessandro Carloni, who most recently served as head of story on DreamWorks Animation’s Academy Award-nominated How to Train Your Dragon, will make his directorial debut on Me & My Shadow . Melissa Cobb ( Kung Fu Panda , Kung Fu Panda 2) will produce and Jeff Hermann ( Kung Fu Panda , Kung Fu Panda 2) will co-produce. Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember (Get Smart) are writing the screenplay. The original script was written by Steve Bencich and Ron J. Friedman.

“The hilarious chemistry between Josh Gad, Bill Hader and Kate Hudson couldn’t be more exciting to watch as they bring to life our trio of lead characters in Me & My Shadow ,” said DreamWorks Animation Chief Creative Officer Bill Damaschke. “Alessandro has proven to be a creative genius at DreamWorks Animation for over a decade and we look forward with a huge amount of enthusiasm as he takes on his feature film directing debut with us.”

“I cannot begin to express my excitement over the opportunity to direct Me & My Shadow, an original movie that makes innovative use of both cutting edge CGI technology and time-honored animated techniques in an inventive new way,” added Carloni.

Prior to his work on How to Train Your Dragon, Carloni worked with DreamWorks Animation in a number of capacities, including supervising animator on the Academy Award-nominated Kung Fu Panda . Carloni joined DreamWorks Animation in 2002, bringing with him a wide variety of award-winning experience within the animation industry, creating feature and short animated films as well as commercials and music videos.

He has served as animator, co-director, animation director, sculptor, special effects supervisor, storyboard and visual development artist and designer throughout his career.

Me & My Shadow reveals the once secret world of shadows and their human counterparts. Stan, our hero’s shadow, yearns for a more exciting life but happens to be stuck with Stanley Grubb, a timid guy with an extreme aversion to adventure. When a crime in the shadow world puts both of their lives in danger, Stan is forced to take control of Stanley.

They go on a madcap adventure to investigate the crime and stop the shadow villain from leading a rebellion where shadows take over the human world. During this adventure, Stan empowers Stanley to let go of his fears and embrace life. Through their adventure, they both learn that one cannot be whole without a true friend.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/watsonsinelgin/

The article DreamWorks Animation’s All-Star Cast for Me & My Shadow appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

DreamWorks Pictures’ “War Horse”, directed by Steven Spielberg, has earned American Humane Association’s highest certification rating: Monitored: Outstanding, No Animals Were Harmed. The production complied with American Humane Association’s ‘Guidelines for the Safe Use of Animals in Filmed Media’ to ensure the safety of the horses and fully cooperated with American Humane Association’s Film and TV Unit,  which logged 1,100 hours on ‘War Horse’ sets in England and California and safeguarded more than 100 horses.

Since 1940, American Humane Association has been safeguarding animals in film. On the ‘War Horse’ production sets, American Humane Association representative Barbara Carr was present to make sure that the many horses used in the making of the film were both safe and treated humanely. Says Director Spielberg, “I gave Barbara [Carr] the complete, final cut so to speak, to pull the plug if she felt any of the horses were not up to the challenge or any of the horses were in any way in harm’s way.”

Spielberg gave Carr input on set in the planning of the stunt or the action the horse had to perform and also gave her opportunities to watch rehearsals in slow motion, done one step at a time, so she could determine whether it would be safe for the horse.

The film, which opens in theatres in the U.S. on December 25th, is an epic tale of loyalty, hope and tenacity set against a sweeping canvas of rural England and Europe during the First World War. Based on the best-selling book by Michael Morpurgo and the Tony Award-winning stage play by Nick Stafford, ‘War Horse’ is one of the great stories of bravery and friendship, brought to the screen by one of the greatest directors in film history.

‘War Horse’ begins with the remarkable friendship between a horse named Joey and a young man called Albert, who tames and trains him. When they are forcefully parted, the film follows the extraordinary journey of the horse as he moves through the war, changing and inspiring the lives of all those he meets—British cavalry, German soldiers, and a French farmer and his granddaughter—before the story reaches its emotional climax in the heart of No Man’s Land. The First World War is experienced through the journey of this horse—an odyssey of joy and sorrow, passionate friendship and high adventure.

Directed by Steven Spielberg, DreamWorks Pictures’ ‘War Horse’ stars Emily Watson, David Thewlis, Peter Mullan, Niels Arestrup, Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irvine, Benedict Cumberbatch and Toby Kebbell. It is produced by Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, and executive producers are Frank Marshall and Revel Guest. The screenplay was written by Lee Hall and Richard Curtis and is based on the book by Michael Morpurgo and the international hit stage play by Nick Stafford, originally produced by the National Theatre of Great Britain and directed by Tom Morris and Marianne Elliot.

The article War Horse Gallops to American Humane Association’s Top Rating appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

When Netflix announced a price hike in July, almost 600,000 members cancelled their subscriptions. After the announcement, the company’s stock value plummeted by almost half in just a few days. Starz Entertainment, one of Netflix’s biggest source of new movies, decided not to continue its deal with Netflix.

Moreover, the decision by Reed Hastings, co-founder and CEO of Netflix, to split the company angered even more subscribers. The company announced that it would separate into two companies on September 18, 2011. Netflix will continue online moving streaming, while the new company, Qwikster, will take care of DVD rentals.

The announcement was part of an apology letter from Hastings in response to the price increase for its services. Before, subscribers paid $10 a month for both DVD rental and online movie streaming. Netflix split the services, and subscribers would pay $7.99 a month for DVD rental and the same additional cost for movie streaming.

That would bring the total to $15.98 if subscribers wanted both, a price increase of almost 60 percent.In his letter, Hastings started with three words: “I messed up.” A video featuring Hastings and newly-named Qwikster CEO, Andy Rendich, soon followed. Hastings apologized again, and offered an explanation for the separation of services.

He addressed the strengths of streaming, and said that DVD and streaming would become more and more different in the future. “We think that the DVD service needs its own brand so that we can advertise it,” said Hastings. Rendich, who was the Chief Service and Operations Officer at Netflix, explained that Qwikster would be the same Netflix DVD rental service that is currently in place, just under a different name. Qwikster will also begin a video game rental service.

Even though Netflix has received mostly negative responses from members, there is some support for the decision. Marc Randolph, the other co-founder of Netflix, said the decision was a good one. “Not only am I completely in support of what Netflix is doing, but I think it is one of the smartest, most disciplined and bravest moves I’ve ever seen,” he wrote on his blog.

Things may be looking up for Netflix. On September 25, Netflix and DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. announced that they had signed an agreement. The contract is estimated to be worth almost $30 million per movie, and does not state how many years the deal is effective. However, Netflix will not begin streaming movies until 2013, when it will stream DreamWorks titles released in 2013, as well as certain DreamWorks titles.

The agreement would add to Netflix’s library of movies, which currently stands at 20,000 titles. That is almost twice as much as its biggest competitor, Amazon Prime. Just after Netflix announced its deal with DreamWorks, Amazon and 20th Century Fox closed their own deal, which is estimated to be worth $100 million, and would add 2,000 titles to their library.

The article Netflix Splits DVD Rentals and Online Movie Streaming Services appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.