"The Wolf Totem", based on the novel of the same tag by Jiang Rong, is a project that New Zealand's WETA company and Beijing's Forbidden City Film Co. are circling to jointly-produce reports Monkey Peaches.

"Totem" tells the yarn of a pack of wolves struggling to survive the Mongolian Prairie. Both CGI and real wolves will be used for the flickeroo. The $48 million dollar project will take no less than three years to complete.

Source: Dark Horizons

Due for video release on February 1, 2005.

Voice Talents: Maurice Le Marche, Sean Astin, David Paymer, Kathy Najimy, Keith Carradine, Jean Smart

Synopsis: The mail in the north used to be delivered by dogsled, but the success of airplane delivery leaves Balto and the other sled dogs feeling neglected. However, when a delivery plane crashes on a mountain side, the sled dogs get the opportunity to show their worth. This story also prominently features Balto's son, Kodi, who was among the puppy litter that we met in Balto II: Wolf Quest.

[Picture of DVD art]
[Internet Movie Database information on this show]

The howling of wolves might be something residents of Tuakau, south of Auckland, will have to get used to.

Ten wolves have been brought in from Los Angeles for filming on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

The pack, which includes seven males and three females, is being housed at Mark Vette's Animal Rescue.

Two siblings, Ricky and Bob, will play the key characters Maugrim and Vardan.

Production of the film will move south from November 1, when Queenstown, Oamaru and Canterbury will feature.

[Original Article]

Gérard Pirès’ Double Zéro is a new French spy parody that, while not exactly sweeping audiences off their feet, it does star a super-intelligent bunny trasnformed by a mad scientists evil experiments. Read article on the CG behind the rabbit on softimage.com and view the photo gallery. And a CG version of Flayrah's mascot?

The people who brought you "Shrek" and "SharkTail" are at it again. Watch the trailer for their next movie "Madagascar", which stars a lion, a giraffe, a zebra and a hippo who all live in the New York Central Park zoo.

See the trailer here.

Publicity art has just been released on Disney's forthcoming "American Dog", by Chris "Lilo & Stitch" Sanders. It looks great!

I just got my DVD of Khaze, Ghost Warrior in the mail this Saturday.

First, realize that the entire 20 minutes of video was done by one person with 2 off-the-shelf computers and off-the-shelf software. It is amazing that the film was created at all.

It’s a great film for furries, no doubt about it.

The Sunday Star-Times reports that Disney and Walden Media were denied use of reindeer in New Zealand for pulling the Ice Queen's sled in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Filming of the $170 million production started last week. The animals, which also pull Santa's sled in one scene, are now likely to be created by Peter Jackson's Weta Workshop special effects department.

Film-maker Lamp-Post Productions hit a speed bump on the road to Narnia when it applied to the Ministry of Argiculture and Forestry for permission to bring in the reindeer and eight wolf cross-breeds. The ministry was happy with wolves in the Auckland studio - which has been set up on the former Hobsonville airbase - but drew the line at reindeer.

Coming Soon News

There is a new animated feature film in preproduction

"Wolves were the devil incarnate; plotting and loping through the shadows of night to prey upon the righteous. They were feared, hated and destroyed on sight if possible.

This sentiment, this belief was almost universal, and the wolves, once occupying more land than humans, quickly started to fade away as Man gained more expierence in eliminating them.

However, someone had been watching the death and destruction all through the ages. Enough was enough; Change was to happen, and it would begin in the most unlikely of places. This is the story of that change. This is the story of 'Wolf'."

Official Wolf Website

As if Disney wasn't having enough trouble with the Pooh estate trying to get more money out of the Mouse House, now Roger Rabbit is demanding more dough!

Seems Gary Wolf, author of the book Disney based their blockbuster film on, claims he didn't get all his monies. The details are in this article.

The BBC reports that filming will begin next year in New Zealand on a a new film adaption of C.S. Lewis' classic children's book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. From the article:

"Shrek co-director Andrew Adamson will adapt the classic CS Lewis story, said New Zealand's Industry Development Minister Jim Anderton.

The £62m film is expected to be the first of five films based on the seven Chronicles of Narnia books."

The Fund For Animals has included on their website a Suess-esque mini-musical titled There's a Fufanu in My Collar Too! which:

"... tells the story of Penny, a young woman who has just purchased a fur-trimmed coat and handbag, only to have a creature called the Fufanu emerge from her collar. The Fufanu takes Penny to the Animangle Fur Ranch, Inc., where caged animals sing about the grotesque cruelty involved in making fur trim."

A delightfully light-hearted holiday romp, the film has increased sales of Fufanu fur dramatically.

Afterposten, among others, is reporting that Keiko, the killer whale star of the 1993 hit movie Free Willy whose horrid living conditions at a Mexico City amusement park reinvigorated the movement for animal rights in the '90s, has died in a fjord off Norway.

The website of Timothy Albee Animation in Fairbanks, Alaska describes their CGI movie in production, "Kaze, Ghost Warrior", which looks like a samurai drama with a Furry cast, roughly similar to Stan Winston's "Realm of the Claw". They are soliciting DVD preorders to fund their production. Details are at their website which has lots of art: http://www.wordware.com/ghostwarrior/

Live-Action/CGI Outfoxed at New Line Source
The Hollywood Reporter reveals that New Line Cinema has acquired rights to Outfoxed, a live-action/CGI feature to be written by Cheryl Heuton and Nick Falacci and produced by BBC Films. Set in the world of English fox hunting, the story follows the adventures of a fox wrongly accused of killing the pet of a wealthy matron. To catch the cunning and elusive fox, the local hunt club enlists the skills of a tenacious and determined American foxhound. The fox must avoid being caught by the foxhound long enough to prove his innocence and ensure the safety of his fellow foxes.

http://animated-movies.squareworld.com/News.html