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Tag: DreamWorks Animation

  • DreamWorks Animation Plans to Open Source MoonRay Renderer

    DreamWorks Animation Plans to Open Source MoonRay Renderer

    Dreamworks Animation has announced its intentions to open source its MoonRay renderer.

    The MoonRay renderer has been used in a number of animated hits, including How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Croods: A New Age, The Bad Guys, and the upcoming Puss In Boots: The Last Wish. While MoonRay is currently proprietary software, DreamWorks plans to open source, making it available to everyone.

    “We are thrilled to share with the industry over 10 years of innovation and development on MoonRay’s vectorized, threaded, parallel, and distributed code base,” said Andrew Pearce, Vice President of Global Technology at DreamWorks. “The appetite for rendering at scale grows each year, and MoonRay is set to meet that need. We expect to see the code base grow stronger with community involvement as DreamWorks continues to demonstrate our commitment to open source.”

    The announcement is good news for the creative and open source community and will give animators of all skill levels access to an industrial-strength rendering platform.

  • Netflix Original ‘Puss In Boots’ Series Gets Release Date

    Netflix Original ‘Puss In Boots’ Series Gets Release Date

    Netflix announced the release date for its next original Dreamworks Animation series, “The Adventures of Puss in Boots”. It will premiere on January 16, exclusively on the streaming service.

    Netflix announced three new DreamWorks Animation originals back in May, to follow up its previously released series Turbo FAST. These were All Hail King Julien, Puss in Boots, and Veggie Tales in the House. King Julien recently made its debut as well.

    Here’s the Puss in Boots description per Netflix:

    The Adventures of Puss in Boots finds the world’s most famous feline fortune-hunter in the hidden city of San Lorenzo, a mythical land that is invisible to the outside world thanks to a magical spell that protects its quirky inhabitants – not to mention its wondrous treasure. When Puss in Boots accidentally breaks the spell, he must do more than fight off an endless legion of invaders and marauders … he must become a legend.

    With a sweeping, epic visual flair and extraordinary quests in each episode, The Adventures of Puss in Boots combines adventure and comedy with the quick-witted, nimble-footed style that is as synonymous with its hero as his namesake boots.

    It does not appear that Antonio Banderas is involved. Danny Trejo is, however.

    The first five 22-minute episodes will be available to Netflix members in the U.S., Canada, Latin America, UK, Ireland, the Nordics, Benelux and France on Friday, the sixteenth. Additional episodes will debut throughout the year.

    Image via Facebook

  • Netflix’s ‘All Hail King Julien’ Gets Release Date

    Netflix’s ‘All Hail King Julien’ Gets Release Date

    Earlier this year, Netflix announced three new original series from DreamWorks animation. These would be based on King Julien from the Madagascar films, Puss in Boots, and Veggie Tales.

    The company announced today that it has given All Hail King Julien a release date – December 19 – and that the first five episodes will be available on that date, while additional episodes will debut throughout the coming year.

    Netflix VP of Original Content Cindy Holland said, “We are excited to add a series focused on one of the most beloved characters from Madagascar to our growing line-up from DreamWorks Animation. “King Julien knows how to throw a great party and we expect families around the world will enjoy spending their holidays with him.””

    Here’s how the show is described:

    Long before the Zoosters arrive on Madagascar, King Julien holds court – not to mention nightly revelries – over a colorful cast that includes fan favorites Mort and Maurice, along with a host of all-new jungle dwellers as they take on the craziest adventures and wildest parties the jungle has to offer.

    Keeping tune with the dance-crazed taste of its lead character, the humor of ALL HAIL KING JULIEN is backed by a pulse-pounding original score that includes a brand-new, infectiously upbeat theme song. The series features a talented voice cast that includes television legend Henry Winkler (Happy Days) as Julien’s regal predecessor, Uncle King Julien, alongside Emmy-winning actor Danny Jacobs as King Julien, Andy Richter (Conan, Arrested Development) as Mort, Kevin Michael Richardson (Family Guy) as Maurice, and India de Beaufort (One Tree Hill) as Clover, the king’s special-ops expert.

    Netflix says that by the end of 2016, it will debut ten additional new series from DreamWorks Animation. The first original collaboration between the two was Turbo FAST, which debuted lsat December.

    Image via YouTube

  • Netflix Announces ‘Dinotrux’ Series For 2015

    Netflix Announces ‘Dinotrux’ Series For 2015

    Those Netflix DreamWorks Animation announcements are really rolling in now. Last summer, the two announced what was Netflix’s biggest deal for original content to date, which would see Netflix getting exclusive new programming from the animation studio.

    Today, the companies announced a new title scheduled for next year: Dinotrux, which is described as “an all-new action-packed original series featuring hybrid dinosaur-construction characters who are set to build and battle over three seasons.”

    It’s based on the award-winning book series from Chris Gall. The first one was named Publisher’s Weekly Children’s Book of the Year in 2009. Here’s the official description of the series:

    Dinotrux follows the adventures of two unlikely best friends as they navigate the adrenaline-filled mechanical domain ruled by stunning oversize creatures like Tyrannosaurus Trux, Scraptors and Tow-a-constrictors. The show’s heroes are Ty, a massive and fiercely loyal T-Trux with a big vision for a new world, and his best buddy Revvit, a razor-smart Reptool who is the engineering brains of the operation. Together they build an incredible world of epic scope populated by groups of Dinotrux and Reptools, each with their own personality and skill set as they unite to defend their community from the biggest and baddest of them all, D-Strux, as he threatens to destroy everything they’ve built.

    “Netflix continues to be an incredible partner and we’re excited to work with them once again to get this completely original series into the homes of families around the globe,” said Margie Cohn, Head of Television at DreamWorks Animation. “This is a property that creates a new world with stunning visuals and fantastic action combined with great characters and comedy. In Dinotrux, the biggest guy and the smallest creature become best friends and through their unique partnership evolve their primitive world – a theme that we think will resonate with kids.”

    “DreamWorks has a proven track record of creating beloved characters and we’re excited to be able to bring the Dinotrux friends to our members,” said Cindy Holland, Vice President Originals Content at Netflix. “We know kids and families love discovering new series to watch together and we’re pleased to continue to expand our show line-up from DreamWorks.”

    The first DreamWorks Animation exclusive to hit Netflix was Turbo FAST back in December. So far that’s the only one available. In March, they announced three more: King Jullen, Puss In Boots and Veggie Tales in the House. A couple weeks ago, they announced the Netflix revival of DreamWorks Dragons after a canceled two-season run on Cartoon Network.

    While not related to the DreamWorks deal, we learned earlier this week that Netflix is also bringing back The Magic School Bus in 2016.

    Dinotrux will debut in the spring.

    Image via YouTube

  • Netflix Keeps ‘DreamWorks Dragons’ Alive With New Seasons

    Netflix has been known to revive canceled television shows with new Netflix-exclusive seasons. It also has a huge deal with DreamWorks animation. That’s why it comes as no shock that Netflix will get new seasons of DreamWorks Dragons after the show wrapped up a two-season run on Cartoon Network.

    DreamWorks Dragons is an animated series based on DreamWorks’ How to Train Your Dragon. The movie has a theatrical sequel about to hit theaters, so interest in the franchise should only be renewed. From the announcement:

    Based on DreamWorks Animation’s hit How to Train Your Dragon films, the new episodes bridge the gap between the first feature film and the much-anticipated sequel How to Train Your Dragon 2, hitting theaters this summer. Weaving a continuous storyline, the television series works in tandem with the feature films and DVD specials, allowing fans to delve deeper into dragon lore. From the origin of Hiccup’s new flight suit and the secrets of his dragon blade to the young Viking’s budding romance with Astrid, DreamWorks Dragons on Netflix gives viewers rich details of the larger narrative with the introduction of new dragons, exotic places and worlds unknown.

    Jay Baruchel and America Ferrera who voice the two young Viking heroes in the feature film return to the television series to voice Hiccup and Astrid, and are joined by Christopher Mintz-Plasse and TJ Miller who will reprise their roles as Fishlegs and Tuffnut in the series.

    “We are happy to be adding Dragons to our growing slate of original series for kids,” said Cindy Holland, Netflix Vice President, Original Content. “This is one of DreamWorks Animation’s most beloved set of characters and we know that kids and families will be enjoying them for years to come.”

    Netflix inked a deal with DreamWorks last year in its biggest ever push for original content. The deal was to include over 300 hours of new, original programming. The first fruit of this deal was Turbo: FAST, a series based on the Turbo movie.

    In March, Netflix announced three more DreamWorks originals: King Jullen, Puss in Boots, and Veggie Tales in the House. King Jullen hails from the Madagascar films. Puss in Boots comes from the Shrek franchise (he also had his own movie), and Veggie Tales, an animated show about Christian vegetables, was originally a direct-to-video ofering before debuting on NBC in 2009. Netflix added Veggie Tales to its catalog in 2009.

    Netflix says new DreamWorks Dragons seasons will start in Spring of next year in all of its territories, including France and Germany.

    Image via PR Newswire

  • Netflix Announces 3 New DreamWorks Originals

    Netflix and DreamWorks Animation just announced three new original series to debut on Netflix later this year: King Jullen, Puss In Boots and Veggie Tales in the House.

    King Jullen is the lemur from the Madagascar films, and is getting his own series. Puss In Boots, made famous by the Shrek films, and then his own movie, is as well. Veggie Tales in the House is described as “new recipes for faith-based values as Bob and Larry venture off the counter top”.

    “We could not be having more fun as we create this content for Netflix,” said Margie Cohn, Head of Television at DreamWorks Animation. “Each show is so diverse and the platform gives us so many opportunities to play with our characters in new and surprising ways. Our goal is to keep the audience always wondering what we’ll come up with next.”

    “I am pretty sure this is the first time the word ‘beloved’ has been applied to a cat, a lemur, vegetables and snails in the same sentence, but DreamWorks Animation has an incredible knack for creating characters that kids around the world adore,” said Netflix VP of Original Content Cindy Holland.

    The snails Holland refers to would be from Turbo FAST, the first original series from this partnership with DreamWorks, which debuted in December. The companies also just announced that new episodes will be available on April 4th.

    In a letter to shareholders in January, Netflix said, “Though just launched, Turbo FAST is on track to become one of the most popular kids series ever on Netflix.”

    The announcement does not indicate whether the new shows will change up the traditional 3D animation style of the previous incarnations of these characters as it did with Turbo FAST, which moved to a 2D look.

    Netflix first partnered with DreamWorks in 2011 to make its content available in 2013. In 2013, it made a new deal to get original content from the animation studio in what was Netflix’s biggest ever push for original content.

    Image via YouTube