Category: Stop-Motion

Guillermo del Toro and the Jim Henson Co. are working to develop a PINOCCHIO stop-motion feature with a darker tone, per VARIETY.

Henson Co. co-presidents Brian Henson and Lisa Henson will produce with SVP Jason Lust. Del Toro will exec produce. Del Toro revealed his involvement with the project on BLOODYDISGUSTING.com; saying he was working on the screenplay with Gris Grimly, who was the illustrator on 2002's PINOCCHIO. Grimly and Adam Parrish King will co-direct.

Aardman Rights, the newly created division of award-winning Aardman Animations has concluded a number of pre-sales for its two new animated series WALLACE & GROMIT IN A MATTER OF LOAF AND DEATH and TIMMY TIME.

Wallace & Gromit’s new half hour adventure is currently in production for BBC One at Aardman’s Bristol studios with delivery expected this autumn. Aardman has secured pre-sale deals at MIPCOM with broadcasters around the globe including: ABC TV Australia, M6 France, Super RTL Germany, YLE Finland, NRK Norway, Zapp Netherlands and SVT Sweden.

Aardman Animations is using Blackmagic Design capture cards and Stop Motion Pro for their latest TV production, TIMMY.

Invading Martians will hit the screen at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' "George Pal: Discovering the Fantastic" event on Wednesday, August 27, at 7:30 p.m. in the Samuel Goldwyn Theater. The centennial celebration, hosted by director Joe Dante (GREMLINS), will feature a panel discussion with several Pal collaborators as well as a screening of two Pal "Puppetoons" and THE WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953) in its entirety.

Nike co-founder and billionaire Phil Knight is making some noise with Laika, the Portland, Oregon-based animation studio he bought six years ago, according to VARIETY.

Laika, which does both CG and stop-motion, is scheduled to release their first feature, CORALINE on February 6, 2009 from Focus Features.

The stop-motion film follows a girl (voiced by Dakota Fanning) who stumbles upon a dark fantasy alternate universe. THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS director Henry Selick helmed the picture, with Knight's son Travis the lead animator.

Oscar's 2008 Best Animated Short PETER & THE WOLF will be airing at 8 p.m. on March 26 on PBS' GREAT PERFORMANCES.

Suzie Templeton's take on how little boys can find extraordinary courage, set to the Russian composer's famous score, offers the latest in stop-motion animation, particularly effective here in the tale's updating into the grim realities of a more contemporary Russia.

Richard Jones' darkly imaginative take on Humperdink's HANSEL AND GRETEL will air immediately after at 9 p.m.