Cary Granat and Ed Jones open the doors of their new family-centric Bedrock Studios, which will develop/produce animated and live-action projects for movies, TV, publishing and digital media, with budgets of $35 million or less, per The Wrap.
Their first project is Turkeys, an animated feature film that will be directed by Ash Brannon (Toy Story 2, Surf's Up) and features a voiceover cast including Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson. The Thanksgiving themed Turkeys is currently in pre-production.
Granat is a co-founder and former CEO, Walden Media and Jones is an animator who runs Reel FX Creative Studios, he is a former executive at Industrial Light and Magic (ILM). Bedrock plans to draw on the various resources from the prolific Reel FX. Other projects on Bedrock's development slate also includes movies based on popular kids books The Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle and Dinosaur Bob by William Joyce.
Nickelodeon UK picks up the new tween-targeted live-action comedy Summer in Transylvania (20x30) from The Foundation, a division of RDF Media Group. Currently in production, Summer in Transylvania revolves around Summer Farley (Sophie Stuckey My Life in Ruins, Midsomer Murders) as she struggles to make the best of her home, school and social life when her family relocates to Transylvania for her dad's job.
Life in their new home is complicated when the local community, which of course, is comprised of zombies, werewolves, vampires and mummies, looks upon Summer's "normal" family as weird. At least Summer has two new friends to help her along, Heidi (Amy Wren Life Bites), a zombie girl, and Bobby (Kane Ricca), a wereboy. Created by Andy Watts (My Parents Are Aliens), Nickelodeon UK plans to premiere this series in fall 2010.
In Toronto this week, C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures abruptly shuttered its doors and Cookie Jar Entertainment reduces its production staff by 35, primarily in the animation group, both blaming the economic downturn that has made it more expensive for US companies to commission work in Canada, per THR.
C.O.R.E. Digital, a digital effects and noted animation studio, is known for its CGI animated productions including The Wild, Ant Bully and Valiant as well as work on The Tudors, X-Men and other projects.
According to the report, Cookie Jar says it is moving more towards live-action production and also plans to further grow its Copyright Promotions Licensing Group, which is based in London and has 16 offices worldwide.
Zinkia Entertainment completes a deal with RAI 2 (Italy) for the animated preschool series Pocoyo (104x7). Co-produced by Zinkia and ITV Studios Global Entertainment, Pocoyo will debut this month on RAI 2, with two episodes airing back-to-back at 9:15a Tuesdays and Thursdays, and one episode at 9a on Fridays.
ITV Studios Global Entertainment handles worldwide distribution rights for Pocoyo, excluding Spain, Italy, Portugal and Latin America, which are handled by Zinkia.
CBeebies new music-based preschool series ZingZillas (52x22) is set to premiere next month. Set on a tropical island, the series features a group of musical primates, Zak (a gorilla and lead singer), Tang (an orangutan lead guitar), Panzee (a chimpanzee bass guitar/keyboard), and Drum (a monkey percussionist), under the guidance of their mentor and music expert DJ Loose, who together perform once each show.
The group is visited on the island by music stars including opera's Sarah Connolly, scat singer Dame Cleo Laine, and didgeridoo player Dhinawan. Kids/families can also be able to hear the ZingZillas songs via CBeebies radio or by logging onto www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/zingzillas . Additionally, kids can join the band and play along using their own webcams.
More new apps for preschoolers:
PBS Kids launches two new apps for iPhone/iPod touch that are designed to encourage kids to explore the world around them and support literacy skills. They are available at the iTunes App Store or www.pbskids.org/mobile.
Developed as part of the PBS Kids Raising Readers initiative, The Super Why! ($2.99) app features four interactive literacy games (rhyming, spelling, writing and reading) and four series characters, as well as a virtual sticker book.
The PBS Kids Photo Factory (free) app features characters/art from 11 PBS Kids series, which can be added to your own family photo, as well as offering local tune-in information. The photos can be shared via iPhoto, e-mail, Facebook, or Twitter.
Kindle Entertainment will release a new app based on CBeebies preschool series Big and Small via the iTunes App Store on April 1, 2010.
Developed by Ace Games in partnership with kindle, the Big and Small app will feature video clips and songs from the series, as well as sound effects from two series characters.
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