Hasta La Motion!

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Award-winning Canadian content and gaming studio, Relish Interactive has acquired Costa Rica-based Rocket Cartoons, to level-up its in-house animation talent. The acquisition is effective immediately.

Relish, well known for its app store hit part book, part game, part animated film, Weirdwood Manor, intends  to grow its in-house animation team and bolster its ability to create one of a kind multi platform digital experiences with this acquisition.

Rocket Cartoons is an indie animation studio and the first original content studio in Costa Rica. Known for its high-quality short-form work such as Kip Van Creepy (DreamWorksTV) and Terror in Doomsville (Cartoon Network). Their creations have sold into more than 40 territories worldwide. Relish CEO Paul Pattison and Rocket CCO Leo Trinidad first came across each other at the Kidscreen Summit in February 2018, and the relationship took off from there.

Pattison said, “Rocket is a talented and nimble team of artists and creators, who will help us round out our 2D and 3D animation offering and boost our ability to create original content that travels well globally”.

This new phase of the Relish and Rocket relationship comes after working together for the past two years on successful projects including, the Kidscreen Award-nominated 2D series Treasure X and a new 3D CGI series called Kindi Kids (both for Moose Toys). Each property has achieved more than 30 million views on YouTube. Their next big project is a co-production of Super Punch, a 2D animated digital series for kids in the pipeline for Cartoon Network Latin America.

While the Rocket team will join Relish with its leadership team assuming senior roles, the Rocket Cartoons brand will continue to exist and co-develop IP under a first-look deal with Relish.

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Whether you live inland or by the sea, plastic pollution is undeniably a big crisis. Plastic on the ocean’s surface can trap sunlight, making the surface warmer and reducing the amount of light and heat travelling to the depths of the ocean. Scientists have warned that if plastic litter were to suffuse the ocean’s surface, it can have ripple effects on marine ecosystems, thereby affecting the planet’s overall climate system. Building upon the same idea, this Pune-based gaming studio Aryavarta Technologies have tied up with Dropledge to launch the game Ocean Heroes: Make Ocean Plastic Free. It is a game based on a social cause which aims to reduce plastic pollution in the sea.

Aryavarta Technologies co-founder Nilesh Gawde

In conversation with AnimationXpress, Aryavarta Technologies co-founder Nilesh Gawde shares “there are million tons of plastics are polluting the water bodies, thinking of which me and my friends realised how to create awareness in terms of plastic usage in the form of gamification? Nowadays we tell everyone that not to use plastic then they will say okay I will not use or they might ignore. However, through gamification, it will put more impact.”

He has also highlighted the fact that the best way to create awareness is by targeting the kids as they are the next generation and if we start making them aware now then we stand a chance of a healthier future. He added, “The most interesting topic for them is gaming and when they found awareness in the form of gaming at the early age with regards to the depredations of plastic-use, automatically it will have a larger impact. This will hopefully reduce plastic use in the environment in future.”

For the game, the studio has tied up with NGO Sagarshakti who are working on the problem of sea plastic pollution and the studio aims to donate 90 per cent of the profit to the NGO. “From the game, we have added the option to contribute the revenue earned to Sagarshakti . With the help of which, the NGOs can increase the speed of work of ocean cleaning with the fund contributed to them,” he added.

The game has recently launched on android version however post 15 February, it will launch on iOS as well. The studio is currently working on the iOS project.  The studio has been working on the game since last one year and are aiming to launch more games on social games in future. He shares that they are currently working on another game based on women self-defence which they are planning to launch by the end of this year. Apart from that, “ We are planning to launch a  game on deforestation too, perhaps next year and we are aiming to launch a bunch of games on social good as well. Currently, we are a team of 16 however we have created a special team to work on social cause games like this.”

Since they are aiming to launch seven other games on social issues, they are aiming to tie up with more NGOs that are relevant to the causes we champion. He expressed, “We have tied up with Sagarshakti now for water pollution domain. Likewise, for our other social cause games, we will tie up with NGOS who are working on that particular social issue.“

The game was recently launched and within a very short space of time, it has received 30,000 plus downloads at google play store with all positive responses.

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Baaghi 3 trailer is out and has trembled the fraternity with its action-packed VFX sequences. The trailer unveils the story of Ronnie and Vikram, the two brothers who share an unbreakable bond. Since childhood, Ronnie has always come to the rescue Vikram in times of need. It all begins when a certain turn in events, leads Vikram to travel abroad for his career.

The action-packed third instalment of the movie franchise Baaghi is directed by Ahmed Khan also stars Riteish Deshmukh, Jaideep Ahlawat and Ankita Lokhande, and is the official remake of 2012 Tamil film Vettai. The film is expected to be released on 6 March.

The movie trailer has an ample amount of VFX shots from car blown up to environment creation to Syrian civil war sequence and it has garnered over 11 million views on YouTube. The movie VFX was done by  Redefine, NY VFXWaala, Resonance Digital, and Red Chillies VFX and they have done a great job with the well-blended sequence, DI and colour gradation.

The action sequences commence when on a video call with Ronnie from Syria, and Vikram gets beaten up by goons and kidnapped by terrorists. Ronnie threatens the kidnappers that he will find them and kill them if anything happens to Vikram.

Next thing was that when Ronnie is in Syria, blowing up cars and buildings and making helicopters crash, CG tankers, in search of Abu Jalal Gaza, leader of the terrorist group.

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Illumination has released a trailer for the sequel to its Despicable Me spinoff-prequel, Minions: The Rise of Gru. The film follows on from 2015’s Minions, a spin-off from the Despicable Me trilogy (2010, 2013, 2017).

Directed by Illumination veteran Kyle Balda (with Brad Ableson and Jonathan del Val co-helming), The Rise of Gru follows the misadventures of the Minions as they join forces with a teenaged Gru, whom they met near the end of their first movie spinoff. The concept of Despicable Me was created by Sergio Pablos (who most recently directed his first feature Klaus at his Spain-based SPA Studios), though the Minion characters were developed later within Illumination.

The voices of the Vicious 6 include Taraji P. Henson (Belle Bottom), Jean-Claude Van Damme (Jean Clawed), Lucy Lawless (Nunchuck), Dolph Lundgren (Svengeance), and Danny Trejo (Stronghold).

Minions: The Rise Of Gru will be released in the U.S. on 3 July.

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