Netflix to Turn Jeff Smith’s Bone into Animated Series

Netflix has announced that it has secured the rights to Jeff Smith’s award-winning and New York Times best-selling international comic book series, BONE, with plans to develop an animated kids series that follows the iconic Bone cousins on an adventure through a vast, uncharted desert and into a mysterious valley filled with wonderful and terrifying…

Australian Museum Short Documentary Selected For International Film Festivals

No Distance Between Us, a short documentary (11 minutes) about the discovery of the world’s largest collection of ancient human footprints in Mungo National Park has been selected to screen at three international film festivals, Global Impact Film Festival (Washington), Antenna International Documentary Film Festival (Sydney) and Female Eye Film Festival (Toronto). Commissioned by the…

Screen Australia Announces $1.4 Million in Funding

Screen Australia has announced production funding for three feature films and one online project which will share in a total of $1.4 million. The slate includes supernatural drama You Won’t Be Alone from writer/director Goran Stolevski and producers Kristina Ceyton and Samantha Jennings from Causeway Films; and 6 Festivals, a drama centred on a group…

Cat Shit One

Director Kazuya Sasahara Starring Tom Flynn, Satoshi Hino, Will Prescott Rated M Score 6/6 A group of desert terrorists kidnap the civilians. A team of rabbit commando, Packy and Botasky, from the Carrot Mystery Service, a private military company, witness a murder of an escaping hostage. Afraid that the rest of the hostages will undergo…

BIFF 2019 Winners Announced

The winners of the 2019 Brisbane International Film Festival (BIFF 2019) Short Film Awards were announced recently at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) during the Festival’s closing night party. Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) Director Chris Saines said the awards included the inaugural Screen Queensland Short Film Award valued at…

Netflix Orders Ghee Happy

Netflix has greenlit a new animated preschool series, Ghee Happy, from Academy Award and Annie Award-nominated director-animator-illustrator Sanjay Patel. Patel is best known for his work on numerous Pixar films, such as Monsters Inc., Ratatouille, Cars, Toy Story 2 and The Incredibles 1 & 2. He directed the short animated film Sanjay’s Super Team, inspired…

Nekrotonic

Director Kiah Roache-Turner Starring Ben O’Toole, Monica Bellucci, Caroline Ford Rated MA Score 5/6 A man who discovers that he is part of a secret sect of magical beings who hunt down and destroy demons in the internet. I was a little excited when I came across this one because the Roache-Turner brothers wrote and…

Detective Pikachu

Director Rob Letterman Starring Ryan Reynolds, Justice Smith, Kathryn Newton Rated PG Score 4.5/6 When ace detective Harry Goodman goes mysteriously missing, prompting his 21-year-old son Tim to find out what happened. Aiding in the investigation is Harry’s former Pokémon partner, Detective Pikachu: a hilariously wise-cracking, adorable super-sleuth who is a puzzlement even to himself.…

Joker

Director Todd Phillips Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz Rated MA Score 5/6 During the 1980s, a failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City while becoming an infamous psychopathic crime figure. Yes, I suppose this is a comic book movie. However, first…

BIFF Opens With Judy & Punch

The Brisbane International Film Festival 2019 (BIFF 2019) launches at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) tonight with the Queensland premiere of Judy & Punch, the directorial debut of Australian Mirrah Foulkes. Set in a peculiar and turbulent 17th-century town, Judy & Punch is a darkly funny feminist retelling of a classic tale, starring Damon…

Buoyancy Australia’s official submission for the Best International Feature Film

Having just opened nationally across Australia, Screen Australia supported feature Buoyancy is Australia’s official submission for the Best International Feature Film at the 2020 Academy Awards®. The Khmer and Thai language film will compete with the other entrants from around the world to be shortlisted for nomination. Already a major award winner from the 2019…

Production begins on Thalu

NITV and ABC Children’s are proud to announce Thalu has commenced production on location in the Pilbara, Western Australia. Energetic, inventive and funny, this new five-part children’s series received principal production investment from Screen Australia in association with Screenwest and the Western Australian Regional Film Fund and was financed with support from NITV, ABC and…

Sony and Aniplex announce Anime Streaming Merger

Sony Pictures Television, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., and Aniplex Inc., a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc., have announced they have combined multiple Sony-owned Anime streaming businesses. France’s Wakanim, Australia’s Madman Anime Group and US-based Funimation will form a joint venture to be owned by Aniplex and Sony Pictures Television. The…

Calm Conditions Forecast For AFL Grand Final

The Bureau of Meteorology’s forecast for Grand Final Day in Melbourne is dry, so does that mean Richmond will romp in – or will the GWS Giants enjoy a fairy-tale finale? Statistically speaking Richmond thrive in dry grand finals, but in terms of temperatures there’s no strong signal either way. The Bureau is forecasting a…

Blue Peter’s Music Badge Designed by Ed Sheeran

Blue Peter is launching its first ever music badge in collaboration with BBC Music Day on Thursday with lifelong Blue Peter fan and multi award-winning singer/songwriter, Ed Sheeran, designing the latest iconic shield. Ed, who received a Gold badge last year – the show’s highest accolade – has watched Blue Peter since he was a…