Hasta La Motion!

Earlier this year, the animation industry was taken aback when information trickled out about India’s leading animation studio DQ Entertainment’s COO Sumedha Saraogi had departed from the company. She had been associated with DQ for more than a decade, first as a senior veep of global business development and then as COO.

Manoj Mishra

Now the news is that her position has been filled with the return of long time DQ executive Manoj Mishra who has returned to the DQ fold. At least that’s what his Linkedin.com profile states.

Mishra was DQ senior veep of licensing and distribution and acquisition until 2013 when he opted to join Al Jazeera Children’s channel in west Asia as head commissioning / co-production and manager of acquisition.

With Mishra’s homecoming and the COO’s office getting occupied, one can expect DQ to once again start making waves in the global animation world.

At the time of writing, DQ was slated to have a board meeting to consider its financials for the year ended 31 March, 2017 and other matters. We reached out to the company’s CEO Tapaas Chakravarti for two days but received no response.

Keep watching this space for an official confirmation.

The post Manoj Mishra returns to DQ Entertainment fold as COO appeared first on AnimationXpress.

A live-action television series adaptation of the 1998 television anime Cowboy Bebop will be produced by Marty Adelstein’s Tomorrow Studios and ITV Studios. The adaptation will be written by Chris Yost (Thor: The Dark World, Thor: Ragnarok).

The studio Sunrise, which animated the original series, will executive produce the live-action series. Other executive producers will include Adelstein (Prison Break, Teen Wolf), Becky Clements (Good Behavior, Aquarius), Matthew Weinberg and Midnight Radio (Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec, Jeff Pinkner and Scott Rosenberg).

Cowboy Bebop is set in a world of distant future where Spike Spiegel and his group of bounty hunters try to capture the galaxy’s worst criminals and survive the unexpected dangers they encounter throughout space. The series aired in 1998 in Japan as a 26-episode series.

Adelstein said, “We are excited to work with Sunrise in bringing this beloved anime to the US and global marketplace as a live-action series. The animated version has long resonated with audiences worldwide, and with the continued, ever growing, popularity of anime, we believe a live-action version will have an incredible impact today.”

A critical and commercial success both in Japanese and international markets, the anime series garnered several major anime and science fiction awards, and received universal praise for its style, characters, story, voice acting, animation, and soundtrack.

Commenting on the proposed Hollywood live-action adaptation of the anime at the 2014 MCM London Comicon, series director Shinichiro Watanabe said, “I’m afraid I don’t know what they’re thinking in Hollywood. Apparently the project hasn’t come to a stop but I don’t know how it’s going to progress from here on. I hear that there are a lot of ‘Hollywood’ problems.” The director also said he had no interest in creating an animated Cowboy Bebop sequel unless he thought he “could do better (than) last time. If I feel that way, I might make more but I don’t know when that would happen.”

An anime film titled Cowboy Bebop: The Movie was released in Japan on September 2001 and in the US in 2003. 20th Century Fox, 3 Arts Entertainment and Sunrise had announced in January 2009 that they would be co-producing a live-action adaptation of the anime. Joshua Long had acted as a production supervisor, and producer Erwin Stoff was also attached. Kenji Uchida, Shinichiro Watanabe, and series writer Keiko Nobumoto were confirmed as associate producers, with the original series producer Masahiko Minami as a production consultant, and Peter Craig as screenwriter.

The post Popular anime ‘Cowboy Bebop’ will get American live-action TV series appeared first on AnimationXpress.

Earlier this year, Pixar fans were treated with the first poster and then a trailer of the animated musical adventure Coco. Disney-Pixar has now revealed the list of characters, voice talent who will portray them and a brand new poster!

Coco is a multi-generational story about the power of family relationships and features characters from the Land of the Living, and their loved ones who’ve moved on to the Land of the Dead. The story follows young Miguel, who dreams of becoming an accomplished musician like his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz. After a mysterious chain of events, Miguel finds himself magically transported to the stunning and colourful Land of the Dead, where he meets charming trickster Hector, and sets off on a journey to find out the real story behind Miguel’s family history.

Coco is directed by Lee Unkrich (Toy Story 3), co-directed by Adrian Molina (story artist on Monsters University), and produced by Darla K. Anderson (Toy Story 3).

Unkrich said, “These parallel worlds couldn’t be more different. One is the Rivera family’s charming and hardworking hometown of Santa Cecilia, and the other is the vibrant, rich land where loved ones go when they’ve passed. Coco introduces characters from both worlds on the eve of Día de los Muertos- one extraordinary night when a living boy named Miguel gets a glimpse of the other side.”

Molina added, “Our voice cast is incredibly talented, helping to shape our eclectic group of characters. Each actor has told us they find something relatable in this film, so they’re finding it easy to capture the heart of this story- it’s all about family, so we hope that these characters will resonate with everyone.”

The movie is slated for 22 November, 2017.

Here’s a list of characters and voice artists who will play them:

FROM THE LAND OF THE LIVING

Anthony Gonzalez voices Miguel, a 12-year-old aspiring musician who struggles against his family’s generations-old ban on music. When a magical mishap lands him in the Land of the Dead, Miguel seeks out his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz, to help him return to the Land of the Living before it’s too late.

Ana Ofelia Murguía is the voice of Mama Coco, Miguel’s cherished great-grandmother. She is very old and fragile, but that doesn’t stop Miguel from sharing his daily adventures with her.

Renée Victor will voice Abuelita, Miguel’s grandmother and the ultimate enforcer of the Rivera family’s ban on music. She loves her family very much and will do anything to protect them but when she gets angry, she wields a mean slipper.

Jaime Camil is Papá, Miguel’s supportive father who hopes that someday Miguel will join him in the family shoemaking business.

Sofía Espinosa is Mamá, Miguel’s loving mother who gently encourages her son to embrace their family’s traditions.

Luis Valdez voices Tío Berto, Miguel’s uncle, a hard worker in the Rivera family shoemaking business.

Lombardo Boyar will be Mariachi, a friendly musician who Miguel encounters in Santa Cecilia Plaza.

FROM THE LAND OF THE DEAD

Gael García Bernal voices Hector, a charming trickster in the Land of the Dead who is forced to enlist help from Miguel to visit the Land of the Living.

Benjamin Bratt plays Ernesto De La Cruz, Miguel’s idol and the most famous musician in the history of Mexico. Revered by fans worldwide until his untimely death, the charming and charismatic musician is even more beloved in the Land of the Dead.

Edward James Olmos will be Chicharrón, a curmudgeonly friend of Hector’s who is sadly being forgotten- an unfortunate condition in the Land of the Dead.

Alanna Ubach will provide voice for Mamá Imelda, Miguel’s great-great-grandmother, the matriarch of the Rivera family and the founder of their successful shoemaking business. Miguel meets Mamá Imelda in the Land of the Dead and discovers she does not share his passion for music.

Selene Luna will play Tía Rosita, Miguel’s late aunt who resides in the Land of the Dead.

Alfonso Arau is Papá Julio, Miguel’s late great-grandfather who he meets in Land of the Dead.

Herbert Siguenza voices Tío Oscar and Tío Felipe, Miguel’s late identical twin uncles who he meets in the Land of the Dead.

Octavio Solis is Arrival Agent in the Land of the Dead’s Grand Central Station.

Gabriel Iglesias is the Head Clerk in the Land of the Dead’s “Department of Family Reunions.”

Cheech Marin is a Corrections Officer in the Land of the Dead.

Blanca Araceli will be the Emcee, the host of a colourful talent show in the Land of the Dead.

The post Disney-Pixar reveals ‘Coco’ characters and voice-cast appeared first on AnimationXpress.

Our very own Chris Schmidt tackles a much requested sequel to Quick C4D Tips and Tricks tutorial with another 50 minutes of a little known features of C4D and tips for speeding up workflow. Learn tricks to clean up points and polygons fast, drive clones with Effectors AFTER dynamics, get more randomness from your Cloners, and so much more. This video is part of the NAB 2017 Rewind courtesy of  Cineversity.