Tail-of-June Linkage

Links for hump day, starting with Gore V's new trailer for his new -- and first -- animated feature. (It plays like a cartoon to us ...)

It isn't just American animation that prospers in the world marketplace:

The animated adventures of a six-and three-quarter-year-old pig called Olivia, who has inspired an unlikely quasi-feminist movement in the pre-school market, have helped media company Chorion report an 11% rise in annual profits.

Launched in the highly competitive US market last year, Olivia has proved a hit and is now broadcast in 120 countries. Books based on her exploits were publisher Simon & Schuster's most successful licensed character launch last year, shifting over a million copies in America alone ,,.

Mark Kennedy analyzes a western study of "The New School Marm" at The Temple of the Seven Golden Camels:

... There's a nice circular frame for her that keeps your eye moving around her and keeps your eye from sliding out of the edges of the frame. The signs, the lamp, the porch, the horses, the old man, the kid, the dog and the stagecoach all create a circular frame for her. If you cover up the dog you will see how the picture would suffer if he wasn't there...there would be too much of a gap between the sidewalk and the stagecoach and your eye doesn't really bridge the gap, it gets stuck and might slide off the bottom of the page. ...

(The painting reminds me a lot of John Ford's film compositions in My Daughter Darling Clementine, seen below. (See? Hulett can reference old movies that don't have Errol Flynn in them ...)

Jeph Loeb, the new topkick at Marvel, discusses the Disney subsidiary's cartoon portfolio:

... [T]here's three different areas that Marvel is exploring and will continue to work with: the first are the direct-to-DVD animated videos, like Planet Hulk — which I loved. The second are continuing and expanding in the areas of animation, currently they have Super Hero Squad, which is on Cartoon Network, starting in the fall will be Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes on Disney XD, and we're developing Ultimate Spider-Man, also for Disney XD.

There are some projects in animation that we're not ready to talk about, but we're going to be developing and expanding into that arena. Our hope is to bring Marvel Animation up to the quality and notoriety of the publishing and movie division. We're now part of the legacy of Disney, where animation is king, and it's our responsibility to up our game and create something that sets Marvel Animation apart from everything else that's out there. At least that's our challenge and our hope ...

Nickelodeon and the National Football League partner on new toons:

[The] short-form series [is] called "Rush Zone: Guardians of the Core" for Nicktoons. ... The 22-episode series is based on the NFL Rush Zone, the league's online world for kids. The series will be comprised of two- to five-minute shorts featuring a kid as the hero, and feature all 32 NFL teams and the voices of NFL players and coaches. ... "Rush Zone" will air weekly to coincide with the upcoming football season from September through February ...

Let's see DreamWorks with its celebrity voice-casting top this:

Croatian president Ivo Josipovic's voice features in a Pixar short being shown with the record-breaking "Toy Story 3"

... The radio message is about how "the most beautiful things are those that are still unknown to us, so we should not be afraid of the unknown but rather investigate it," Josipovic said.

And speaking of Pixar, Toy Story 3 has enabled its older siblings to resurge on the video sales charts:

... "Toy Story 2" was No. 3 in both overall disc sales and in Blu-ray Disc sales for the week, while the original "Toy Story" was No. 5 on First Alert and No. 4 on the Blu-ray Disc chart ...

We'll end with a brightly-colored super hero:

... Warner Brothers Home Video has revealed that "Green Lantern: Emerald Knights" is on their upcoming slate of animated projects. The new animated film was hinted at earlier this month during the Cartoon Network upfronts that also announced the upcoming "Green Lantern" animated series.... "Green Lantern: Emerald Knights" is expected to coincide with the summer 2011 release of director Martin Campbell's live action "Green Lantern" ...

We do love us the "synergy" that Hollywood always employs to boost new franchises. Have yourself a productive Thursday and Friday.