Jul 08

Fun & Games

Posted in: Animation
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Jul 07

Genius Brands strikes deal with POW! to create ‘Stan Lee Universe’

Posted in: Animation

Genius Brands International and Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment are collaborating on a deal to create the Stan Lee Universe for properties that were made by Lee outside of Marvel Entertainment. Stan Lee Universe will assume worldwide rights, in perpetuity, to the name, physical likeness, physical signature, live-action and animated motion picture, television, online, digital, publishing, comic book, merchandising and licensing rights to Stan Lee and his IP creations past, present and going forward.

In announcing the deal Genius Brands chairman and CEO Andy Heyward said, “In all of Hollywood, there is no greater prize. This is the Holy Grail. Stan Lee Universe is a once in a lifetime asset drawn from over 100 original, heretofore unexploited properties, created by the most successful creator of intellectual property of our time.”

Lee, who died in 2018, was the creator, writer, editor and publisher of superhero comic characters, including Spider-Man, the X-Men, Thor, Iron Man, Black Panther and the Fantastic Four. His credits also include Captain America, Ms. Marvel, Silver Surfer, Ant-Man, Nick Fury, Guardians of the Galaxy and The Avengers.

Lee created POW! Entertainment in 2001 to manage his creator rights and licenses as it developed film, TV and video game properties. That company and Genius Brands already co-produced the adult animated series Stan Lee’s Cosmic Crusaders.

According to Genius Brands, Stan Lee Universe programs would be part of its new Kartoon Channel.

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Jul 07

Sushant Singh Rajput’s ‘Dil Bechara’ trailer surpasses ‘Avengers: Endgame’ trailer in 24 hours

Posted in: Animation

The trailer of late Sushant Singh Rajput’s last film, Dil Bechara has surpassed the trailers of two of all-time biggest blockbusters Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame on YouTube in less than 24 hours.

Dil Bechara trailer has garnered a whopping 4.3 million likes in 24 hours in comparison to Avengers: Endgame trailer which is 3.2 million and Avengers: Infinity War trailer – 2.9 million likes on YouTube, respectively.  Till date, Avengers: Endgame official trailer has 101,379,071 views. However, the numbers for Dil Bechara are only from Fox Star Hindi’s official YouTube channel.

After Rajput’s shocking demise, there has been no dearth of conversation around the actor and his last film. As of now, the Dil Bechara trailer has about 30 million+ views and 6.1 million likes on YouTube.

Dil Bechara is the official remake of 2014 Hollywood romantic drama The Fault In Our Stars, based on John Green’s bestselling novel about two teens who fall in love after meeting at a cancer support group. Rajput plays Manny and the film introduces Sanjana Sanghi as Kizie Basu. The film also stars Saif Ali Khan in a cameo. 

Dil Bechara‘s entire storyboard is done by animator, filmmaker and graphic artist Aniket Mitra, DI is done by Prime Focus and VFX is done by UNIFI Media. Dil Bechara will premiere on Disney+Hotstar Multiplex on 24 July.

The post Sushant Singh Rajput’s ‘Dil Bechara’ trailer surpasses ‘Avengers: Endgame’ trailer in 24 hours appeared first on AnimationXpress.

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Jul 07

CBeebies pre-school channel returns to India

Posted in: Animation

BBC Studios,  has announced the re-launch of its popular children’s channel, CBeebies, in India.The channel is available across leading multi-system operators in the country including Tata Sky (DTH and Mobile) Sun DTH, IMCL, Fastway, and Kal Cables, amongst many others – currently reaching 33million+ homes. More platforms will be launching the channel in the coming weeks, making the service available in as many homes as possible.

CBeebies is a dedicated pre-school channel that brings 100 per cent ad-free content to India. A multi-genre channel, CBeebies is aimed at children aged six years and under.  It offers a distinctive range of programming, from Animation to Live-Action, designed to encourage learning through play in a consistently safe environment. CBeebies is dedicated to delighting and surprising its pre-school audience and remains the UK’s most watched and most loved channel for the under-sixes. Internationally, there are CBeebies channels available across Asia, Australia, Africa, Poland, the Middle East and Turkey, and Latin America.

The programme schedule in India consists of entertaining, trusted and interactive series, and offers a mix of new and landmark, high-quality, UK-produced programmes to educate and entertain the BBC’s youngest audiences. Acclaimed series such as Hey Duggee, Go Jetters, Sarah and Duck, Thomas & Friends and Teletubbies encourage children to learn about the world and enjoy their surroundings.  With its bright colours, friendly and familiar characters and interactive content, CBeebies is a dependable environment for children.

BBC Studios SVP and GM, South and South East Asia Ryan Shiotani says: “CBeebies is trusted by parents internationally and we are thrilled to bring this dedicated pre-school channel back to India. We are passionate about nourishing little minds and having a positive impact on their intellectual, social and emotional development. We are proud of the diverse and inclusive nature of CBeebies content, and our young audience love being able to see themselves reflected in our content, and engage with their favourite award-winning characters.”

BBC Global News in India will be marketing and distributing the CBeebies channel, utilising their well established presence, expertise and network of affiliates in the market.

 BBC Global News managing director, India, Rahul Sood says “ We are extremely pleased to have relaunched CBeebies in India, especially at a time when there has been a massive increase in viewership in the genre and in overall screen time by kids. We’re sure that CBeebies will provide kids and their parents a safe environment that offers a unique combination of learning with entertainment. At BBC audiences are always at the heart of everything we do and we are committed to bring quality content to our viewers no matter what the challenges are.

CBeebies provides the very youngest audience with the very best content, with learning at its core – it is fun, trusted and truly distinctive.

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Jul 07

‘Shadow Warrior 3’ announced with teaser trailer

Posted in: Animation

Devolver Digital has announced Shadow Warrior 3 with a teaser trailer. Series protagonist Lo Wang will come back as the main character in Shadow Warrior 3. You can check out the teaser trailer below.

The trailer reprises the series’ irreverent style of comedy, poking fun at the idea of a teaser trailer, the upcoming release of the gameplay trailer, and even the idea of boasting new features in trailers. The new feature in question, this time around, is the grappling hook.

Shadow Warrior 3 launches the offbeat first-person shooter series to the next level with a seamless blend of fast-paced gunplay, razor-sharp melee combat, and a spectacular free-running movement system.
Fallen corporate shogun Lo Wang and his former employer turned nemesis turned sidekick Orochi Zilla embark on an improbable mission to recapture an ancient dragon they unwillingly unleashed from its eternal prison. Armed with a punishing mix of blades and bullets, Lo Wang must traverse uncharted parts of the world to track down the dark beast and push the apocalypse back yet again. All it will take is the mask of a dead god, a dragon’s egg, a touch of magic, and enough firepower to hold off the impending cataclysm.

The story this time around revolves around Lo Wang and Orochi Zilla trying to recapture an ancient dragon that they unwillingly released from its ancient prison. Much like its predecessors, Shadow Warrior 3 will feature a mix of guns, magical abilities, and melee skills in its first-person shooter gameplay.

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Jul 07

Uday Shankar reveals Disney+Hotstar eyeing 100 million+ subscribers  

Posted in: Animation

Disney+ has made headlines since it stepped into the Indian OTT space through Star India owned Hotstar in April 2020. The streaming platform amassed eight million subscribers within one week of its launch, and is now aiming for a 100 million subscriber base.

After being rebranded to Disney+Hotstar, the OTT platform has been chasing a large audience with gripping original content, new Disney-Marvel-Pixar-Star Wars shows besides sports which is temporarily less owing to the pandemic and the lockdown.

Quite recently, Disney+Hotstar announced ‘Multiplex’ and will premiere direct-to-digital releases of big bollywood movies starting with late Sushant Singh Rajput’s Dil Bechara on 24 July, given the theaters and cinema halls are shut. All this is to ramp up its subscriber numbers in India.

Revealed The Walt Disney Company APAC chairman and Star and Disney India president Uday Shankar in a recent interview with ET Now, “What we are looking at is to get tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions, of people to subscribe to Disney+Hotstar. Once we do that, it becomes an attractive business with many possibilities.”

Uday Shankar

Shankar was also asked if he considers TVoD to be a scalable model in OTT business, to which he said, “I am not a big fan of the pay-per-view model. Those are very transactional with customers and I don’t think a platform which has a long-term vision and wants to be the substitute for TV in this country should do something like pay-per-view. Tomorrow, we might change our strategy but that’s not what we are looking at right now.”

Disney+Hotstar is estimated to reach 93 million paying subscribers by 2025 at monthly ARPUs under $1, as per a report from MPA. The OTT service offers a huge library of premium local and international entertainment content and sports.

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Jul 07

Players can get ‘Watch Dogs 2’ for free this sunday by watching Ubisoft Forward

Posted in: Animation

This weekend Ubisoft is in a give-away mood. Watch Dogs 2 is going to be given for free to everyone who is login to their Ubisoft Account this Sunday 12 July 2020 while the Ubisoft Forward event is active. Ubisoft has specifically said that Watch Dogs 2 will be available anytime after Trackmania and before the end of the main show. Apparently, if Trackmania is the first game to appear on the show at 11 am then everyone gets a 2 hours window to claim Watch Dogs 2 for free.

You Can Get Watch Dogs 2 Free This Weekend, If You're Willing To ...While they’re claiming Watch Dogs 2, players can also enter to win additional in-game rewards from Ubisoft by answering trivia questions.

Watch Dogs is a 2014 action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. Set in a fictionalized version of Chicago, the plot follows hacker Aiden Pearce’s search for revenge after the killing of his niece. The game is played from a third-person perspective, and the world is navigated on foot or by vehicle. An online multiplayer mode allows up to eight players to engage in cooperative and competitive gameplay.

Ubisoft is set to disclose their next-gen games for the upcoming PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X in the Ubisoft Forward. The event will take place on Sunday, 12 July at 11 am PDT with a stream covering news on upcoming updates for The Division 2, Ghost Recon Breakpoint, Trackmania, and Just Dance 2020.  The main event will commence at 12 pm PDT featuring details on Ubisoft’s upcoming next-gen games i.e Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Watch Dogs: Legion, Hyper Scape, plus “a few surprises.”

Watch Dogs 2 has sold more than 10 million copies by March 2020 and the third game of the series, Watch Dogs: Legion, is expected to release in 2021.

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Jul 07

CBeebies pre-school channel returns to India

Posted in: Animation

BBC Studios has announced the re-launch of its popular children’s channel, CBeebies, in India. The channel is available across leading multi-system operators in the country including Tata Sky (DTH and mobile) Sun DTH, IMCL, Fastway, and Kal Cables, amongst many others – currently reaching 33 million+ homes. More platforms will be launching the channel in the coming weeks, making the service available in as many homes as possible.

CBeebies is a dedicated pre-school channel that brings 100 per cent ad-free content to India. A multi-genre channel, CBeebies is aimed at children aged six years and under.  It offers a range of programming, from animation to live-action, designed to encourage learning through play in a consistently safe environment. CBeebies is dedicated to delighting and surprising its pre-school audience and remains the UK’s most watched and most loved channel for the under-sixes. Internationally, there are CBeebies channels available across Asia, Australia, Africa, Poland, the Middle East and Turkey, and Latin America.

BBC Studios SVP and GM, South and South East Asia Ryan Shiotani said: “CBeebies is trusted by parents internationally and we are thrilled to bring this dedicated pre-school channel back to India. We are passionate about nourishing little minds and having a positive impact on their intellectual, social and emotional development. We are proud of the diverse and inclusive nature of CBeebies content, and our young audience love being able to see themselves reflected in our content, and engage with their favourite award-winning characters.”

The programme schedule in India consists of entertaining, trusted and interactive series, and offers a mix of new and landmark, high-quality, UK-produced programmes to educate and entertain the BBC’s youngest audiences. Series such as Hey Duggee, Go Jetters, Sarah and Duck, Thomas & Friends and Teletubbies encourage children to learn about the world and enjoy their surroundings.  With its bright colours, friendly and familiar characters and interactive content, CBeebies is a dependable environment for children.

BBC Global News managing director, India Rahul Sood said, “ We are extremely pleased to have relaunched CBeebies in India, especially at a time when there has been a massive increase in viewership in the genre and in overall screen time by kids. We’re sure that CBeebies will provide kids and their parents a safe environment that offers a unique combination of learning with entertainment. At BBC audiences are always at the heart of everything we do and we are committed to bring quality content to our viewers no matter what the challenges are.”

BBC Global News in India will be marketing and distributing the CBeebies channel, utilising their well established presence, expertise and network of affiliates in the market.

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Jul 07

Popular Pixar characters gets alien makeover for the new Funko Pop! collection

Posted in: Animation

Disney Pixar Anniversary Alien as Dot Funko Pop! Vinyl

Disney’s Pixar classic characters are getting an alien makeover for the new Funko Pop! collection.

The new collection of Funko Pops! features the three-eyed green fellas dressed as classic Pixar characters, including Dot from A Bug’s Life, Dug the dog from Up, Dory from Finding Dory, Zurg and Buzz from Toy Story and many more.

The collectibles are stout, 3–3/4 inches tall and are presently available for pre-order at Pop In A Box, with each priced at £9.99. One can purchase more than by ordering a set of two for £18.99.

Apart from these, Star Wars and Marvel Funko Pops! are also currently available with a 20 per cent discount.

The Star Wars characters include a young Han Solo from Solo, Finn disguised in an Imperial uniform from The Last Jedi, and a bobble-head version of Kylo Ren.

Some of the Marvel Funkos on offer are Black Panther‘s M’Baku, Infinity War‘s Bruce Banner starting to turn a little Hulk green and MJ from Spider-Man: Far From Home.

These Funko Pops! figures have a declining discount, dropping by 1 per cent every hour. So fans and admirers need to buy these as soon as possible in order to get them as cheap as possible.

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Jul 07

80 per cent of the gamers play games on mobile in Southeast Asia: Study

Posted in: Animation

One of the biggest beneficiaries of the growing digital economy in Southeast Asia is the gaming industry, and a trend that has also been fuelling the games market in the region is the rise of esports. According to Newzoo and gamescom Asia report, the vast majority (82 per cent) of Southeast Asia’s urban online population are gamers.

This is what the report says :

  • Mobile is the most played platform in the region. Nevertheless, console and PC are popular and are also played by the majority of the online population.
  • 80 per cent of the gamers play games on mobile.
  • 69 per cent of the gamers play games on PC.
  • 57 per cent of the gamers play on console.
  • Gender split of gamers in the SEA population is far more even—especially on mobile.
  • Overall, Southeast Asia’s most popular game genre is strategy. In fact, over a third of the urban online population plays the strategy genre. And it’s popular across all three segments, in mobile 36 per cent, console 32 per cent, and PC 29 per cent play strategy respectively.
  • Mobile is the leading platform in SEA in the past six months 44 per cent of SEA’s gamers played Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, 33 per cent played Clash Royale and 27 per cent played Plants vs. Zombies (on mobile).
  • The most popular franchises and genres on the other platforms, however, are completely different. Shooters are the top genre on the other two platforms, with over a third of SEA’s gamers playing on console 36 per cent and PC 34 per cent alike.
  • SEA’s top-played franchise on PC is League of Legends, while the most popular on console is FIFA. There are fewer titles available in the battle arena (MOBA) genre on mobile and the annualized sports genre on console.
  • more than half of SEA’s online population spends money on games. Interestingly, men are more likely to spend on games than women. 60 per cent men spend money on games whereas 44 per cent  women spent money in games.
  • Among most of these paying gamers 95 per cent spent on in-game items or virtual goods in the past six months, which makes sense given the market’s engagement with free-to-play games. The most commonly bought item is in-game currencies—for women is 44 per cent and men are 45 per cent
  • The most regularly watched esport is PUBG Mobile, which is watched by a striking 40 per cent of SEA’s esports audience. 14 per cent watch regular PUBG (console and PC). Meanwhile, the second-most-popular esports game is Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (33 per cent of esports viewers).

Southeast Asia is a games market to watch for any brand—whether they’re endemic or non-endemic to gaming. Owing to the market’s appetite for mobile, penchant for esports, and engagement with game-streaming, it’s no wonder why so many of the biggest games companies are entering Southeast Asia.

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