Dec 28

Made in India: Pocket League’s ‘Soap Cutting’ tops the chart in US and Canada during Christmas

Posted in: Animation

Many say soap cutting is part of the autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) scene which provides auditory, olfactory or visual stimulation that gives them a pleasurable, tingling feeling on their scalp.  And thus internet has been overflowing with these soap cutting videos and they have been consumed voraciously, in loops which have made the videos score millions of views.

With the same idea Pocket League co founders Surojit Bobo Roy and Karan Khairajani developed the Soap Cutting game which has became the number one app in the US,Canada on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day surpassing Amazon Alexa, Snapchat, YouTube and many others.

For the game they have worked closely with Israel based publisher Crazy Labs, who supported their hard work and made it happen according to Roy’s official Facebook post. He further expressed that their game has acquired the number one position of free games in both US and Canada.

On the success of the game AnimationXpress had a chance to speak with one of the co-founders. An elated Khairajani states, “We are extremely happy and excited that our latest game, Soap Cutting, was the top ranking iOS app in USA on Christmas Day. It is currently the top ranking game in USA, Canada and Australia. The game has been published by the amazing Crazy Labs team headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel. It has been an amazing experience working with them and we as a team have learnt a lot from them. It wouldn’t have been possible without them. Both teams have worked extremely hard on this and this is a very proud moment for all of us.”

The game is yet to launch worldwide and is scheduled to launch in India in a few more days. So stay tuned for more updates!

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Dec 28

#FeatureFriday: Bridging the uncanny valley, one story at a time

Posted in: Animation

“Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they stopped to think if they should.” – Dr. Ian Malcom in Jurassic Park.

While there have been some delightfully impressive VFX projects that have carved their way into our hearts over the past year, we do need to talk about the ones that just didn’t stand up to the test of live-action remaking. VFX scene has grown by leaps and bounds in terms of CGI and live-action remakes but its high time Hollywood understood that we don’t always need the characters to have humanoid features in order to relate to them. Relatability hinges more on emotion and expression rather than anthropomorphism.

 In the age of globalisation and social media, nothing escapes the microscopic scrutiny of netizens and filmmakers are under that much more pressure to live up to the current standards.

We all know how jarringly off was the CG replica of princess Leia in the movie Star Wars: The New Hope. That is testament to the fact despite the effort of hundreds of artists, the end-result still might not bear fruit. Indeed the human eye has a keen ability to know when something doesn’t look right. And granular errors in CG like a bad neck turn or the way eyes glissade across or the way shadows are cast can break the entire spell and prove to be counter-productive to the entire operation.

When Sonic the hedgehog, which has been a household name, was passed through the CG portal, the results weren’t very pleasant.

In the age of globalisation and social media, nothing escapes the microscopic scrutiny of netizens and filmmakers are under that much more pressure to live up to the current standards.  When Sonic the hedgehog, which has been a household name, was passed through the CG portal, the results weren’t very pleasant. Netizens expressed their dissatisfaction over the appearance which led the director to tender an apology and rework on the blue critter.

While Sonic has been reworked on and modelled perfectly around the original blue creature, Cats is being re-done by Universal even as the movie has already hit the theatres.

The fault didn’t lie in the CGI artistry as much as the design aspect. While the CGI game was on point, it was again the unsettling and un-gorgeous amalgam of human-like expressions and teeth reindexed onto a mutant.

Cats, a broadway rage, again attempted the same kind of anthropomorphic abomination, landing in the eye of the storm of invoking a nightmarial mix of eeriness and hysteria reminiscent of the flak Will Smith’s blue genie had drawn. Both instances beggared a serious question;

Do we need to give a realistic human face-lift to the predominantly cartoonish characters? Should photo-realism really have to take precedence over other nuances that come together to make for a gratifying experience? A long hard meditation on this question is overdue! While Sonic has been reworked on and modelled perfectly around the original blue creature, Cats is being re-done by Universal even as the movie has already hit the theatres.

Bottomline: Over-reliance on realistic anthropomorphisation of goofy animated characters is a slippery slope and its high time filmmakers rose out of their glaring preoccupation, if not obsession with forced hyper-realism being grafted on characters that are not meant for it.

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Dec 28

Ryan Reynolds confirms Deadpool 3

Posted in: Animation

 

On Christmas Eve, Reynolds appeared on Live With Kelly and Ryan, and he told the two hosts that the “whole team” was working on Deadpool 3. Not only that, but the film was being brought to life over at Marvel.

 “Yeah we’re working on it right now with the whole team,” Reynolds said. “We’re over at Marvel [Studios] now, which is like the big leagues all of a sudden. It’s kinda crazy. So yeah, we’re working on it.”

 We can’t wait for the movie to release

 

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Dec 28

Zee5 to have new launches across genres and languages in January 2020

Posted in: Animation

ZEE5, India’s largest OTT player has unveiled their calendar for the first month of 2020. January will see new launches across genres and languages.

The calendar launch event took place at the Zee5 headquarters in Mumbai and was graced by Vivek Dahiya, Nakuul Mehta, Rituraj Singh, Sid Makkar, Vivek Mushran, Vipul Deshpande, Vikram Gaikwad, Chitrangada Satarupa, Rajesh Sharma, Aadesh Bandekar, Jiten Lalwani and Sneha Wagh amongst others.

The OTT platform will have two new shows adapted from books of popular Indian authors; Never Kiss Your Best Friend, a millennial rom-com based on the young author Sumrit Shahi’s best-selling novel of the same name and State of Siege: 26/11, which is a gripping tale of the terror attacks that rocked Mumbai on 26/11. The show is based on the book Black Tornado: The Three Sieges of Mumbai 26/11 written by journalist and author Sandeep Unnithan.

The platform will also have shows featuring strong women protagonists: Code M starring Jennifer Winget, Tanuj Virwani, Rajat Kapoor and Kark Rouge; and a bilingual series in Hindi and Bengali starring Satrupa, Indraneil Sengupta and Sharma.

ZEE5 also adds a romantic drama series titled Anaganaga to its already filled bouquet of Telugu originals.

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Dec 28

Teaser trailer of animated feature, ‘Boonie Bears: The Wild Life’ released

Posted in: Animation

Fantawild, animation studio based out of China has unveiled the teaser trailer for Boonie Bears: The Wild Life. This is the seventh feature in Boonie Bears franchise.

A thrilling new place opens on Pine Tree Mountain, “Wild Life”, that offers a legendary experience. By wearing a gene-altering bracelet, guests can transform themselves into a variety of animals! Vick discovers that Wild life is hosting a competition with a massive grand prize and decides to enter. He teams up with Bramble and a mysterious man named Leon, astonishingly winning the tournament! Soon afterward, Leon is caught trying to secretly copy the park data by the owner, Tom, and Vick discovers that hybrid guests are going feral and attacking others… Who is the mysterious Leon? Is Tom the mastermind Vick has to fight…

The Boonie Bears brand has had 300+ billion clicks on digital platforms and produces over $735 million annually in merchandising sales worldwide. Boonie Bears: The Wild Life is scheduled to hit cinemas in China on 25 January 2020, the first day of the Chinese New Year.

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Dec 28

Veteran cartoonist Vikas Sabnis passes away at the age of 69

Posted in: Animation

Veteran cartoonist Vikas Sabnis passed away on Friday following a brief illness. Born on 12 July 1950, Sabnis graduated from the prestigious Sir JJ School of Art and has also worked with legendary journalist Russi Karanjia. He describes the 80s and 90s as the golden era of cartooning.

Sabnis was inspired by cartoonists K Shankar Pillai, RK Laxman and Balasaheb Thackeray. Thackeray would himself draw cartoons for Marmik, a political satire weekly launched by him. However, due to his increasing political commitments, he later hand-picked Sabnis for the job. After working for Marmik for 12 years, Sabnis joined a Marathi daily, Loksatta. In his career of around 50 years, Sabnis. He was 69 and is survived by wife and son.

Cartoonists and artists across the state paid condolences to Sabnis through social media. This is a huge loss to the industry. His beautiful comics will be etched in our minds forever.

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Dec 27

Survey finds ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ as the most anticipated movie of 2020

Posted in: Animation

With the year coming to an end, movie buffs are eagerly anticipating the upcoming blockbuster films of 2020. The highly-anticipated movie apparently is Wonder Woman 1984, the sequel to the 2017 DC extended universe film.

According to Atom Ticket’s survey, the top five most anticipated movies in 2020 have Wonder Woman 1984 and Black Widow taking spots one and two respectively. No Time to Die is on number three, followed by Fast & Furious 9 and Disney’s Mulan on number four and five in the list.

The first installment of Wonder Woman made $821.8 million and Wonder Woman 1984 is poised to make an even bigger splash.

Directed by Patty Jenkins, Wonder Woman 1984 stars Gal Gadot as Diana Prince, Chris Pine as Steve Trevor, Kristen Wiig as Barbara Minerva/Cheetah, Pedro Pascal as Maxwell Lord and Natasha Rothwell. The film opens on 5 June 2020.

Upcoming DC movies include Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) on 7 February 2020, The Batman on 25 June 2021, The Suicide Squad on 6 August 2021, Black Adam on 22 December 2021, Shazam! 2 on 1 April 2022, The Flash on 1 July 2022, and Aquaman 2 on 16 December 2022.

 

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Dec 27

Indian animation studios experienced the “joy of giving”, this Christmas eve

Posted in: Animation

Christmas was celebrated with great pomp and excitement all across the globe. With stress, workload and tight deadlines at the workplace, many studios in India decided to give the daily routine, a break with fun celebration at the office. AnimationXpress spoke to a few animation studios based in India. Take a look at how the offices and employees decked up for the festive season!

The Christmas fever had gripped Cosmos Maya a week before mentioned Cosmos Maya HR director Ashutosh Tipnis. With various programs like decoration, theme dressing, selfie competition planned everyday for a week, this year Mayaties also received a few special gifts from Santa.

Celebrations at Cosmos Maya

The company gifted free medical insurance for employees and their immediate family.. Their leaves were extended till June 2020 instead of March 2020. Shift timings were changed to maintain proper work life balance and free discount vouchers for nearest gyms and restaurants were given away as goodies.

“We always take every opportunity to value employees and keep recognising their every effort,” mentioned Tipnis.

Toonz Animation based out of Trivandrum, Kerela is an organisation which values and fosters a sense of belonging and togetherness. 

Celebrations at Toonz Animation

Toonz Animation CEO P. Jayakumar said, “Christmas for the Toonz family is like none other. Our spirit of sharing expresses the fact that we care for all those who partner and venture with us and also their families who play a vital role in their lives.”

Assemblage Entertainment Studio celebrated Christmas with sweets, gifts, fun, secret santa games and entertainment. 

Celebrations at Assemblage Entertainment

“We wish the entire animation fraternity in India and the world a very healthy, happy, joyous and blessed Christmas and New Year! From all of us at the Assemblage family, best wishes to a wonderful 2020!,” wished Assemblage Entertainment Studio director – head / strategy , new business development Arjun Madhavan.

At 88 Pictures, the festival was all about togetherness, happiness and joy of giving!

Celebrations at 88 Pictures

“Christmas here started a week before with fun activities like secret santa. The entire studio was decked in red and white. We also had music and carols. Christmas is the perfect time to end the year and look for new beginnings,” mentioned 88 Pictures co-founder and studio head Siddhie Mhambre.

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Dec 27

Is Lenovo launching a gaming phone?

Posted in: Animation

The official Legion gaming phone account on Weibo is verified and is owned by Lenovo.

Lenovo is apparently gearing up to make its foray into the gaming phone segment soon via its Legion brand. The company has previously launched a few gaming-centric phones under the Lenovo brand in China, but is planning to leverage its expertise to launch a Legion-branded gaming phone.

The approach is reminiscent of what Asus did with its Republic of Gamers (ROG) brand, launching a couple of ROG-branded phones so far. But so far, details about Lenovo’s Legion gaming phone are shrouded in suspense.

The Chinese company has created a new Weibo account focused on gaming phones under the Legion brand. The account is verified and is owned by Lenovo Mobile Communications Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd.

A cursory look at the videos and posts shared so far by the Weibo account indicates that a gaming phone is indeed on the cards.

Earlier this year, Lenovo had confirmed plans to launch a phone powered by the Snapdragon 855 Plus SoC, which garnered a attention and anticipation around the fact that a gaming phone is about to arrive.

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Dec 27

Team Fnatic bags Rs 20 lakhs prize money at PMAS in Hyderabad

Posted in: Animation

PUBG Mobile a popular game in esports tournaments across the world has recently conducted tournament PUBG Mobile All Stars 2019 — PMAS  in Hyderabad, Team Fnatic grabbed the top spot.

The tournament witnessed 16 PUBG mobile teams battle against each other to show who’s the best. The tournament that lasted a whole two days and Team Fnatic was on the lead since the very beginning.

In the entire tournament, they managed to keep their foot in the top half on the first day, while securing the first position by the end of day one. Day 2 also went in a similar pattern, turning them victorious in the grand finals.

In the overall tournament of 9 matches, they managed to get two ‘Chicken Dinners’ (basically surviving the deathmatch till the very end) with 46 total kills and a score of 138 points. They won a cash prize of Rs 20 lakhs.

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