Weekly Briefing: ‘Wolfwalkers,’ French TV Animation, Pixelatl

Welcome to our new weekly briefing of essential animation news from around the globe. The briefing will be delivered to your inbox by 10 a.m. Pacific on Monday mornings for those who have signed up. You can subscribe to the newsletter for free from the bottom of any page on the site.

The briefing is envisioned as a condensed summary of what happened the week prior in animation, as well as a look forward to animation happenings in the coming week.

Here’s this week’s briefing mailed out earlier today:

• This might be the biggest animation news of the year: Apple, the world’s most valuable company, has confirmed that it is investing in animated features for their soon-to-launch streaming service. They have acquired rights to Wolfwalkers, the fourth film from Ireland’s Cartoon Saloon, whose first three features have each been nominated for Academy Awards.
• The streamers are changing the feature animation game by increasing accessibility to films from around the world. Last Friday, Netflix launched Next Gen, a lushly-produced Canada-China co-production made with Blender software.
• France set an all-time TV programming export record in 2017, driven in large part by the strength of its animation sector. One of France’s breakout TV animation successes of recent years has been Miraculous – Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir —U.S. film production company Skydance announced last week that it plans to create live-action feature film and TV projects based on the franchise.
• Speaking of European television animation, Cartoon Forum starts today in Toulouse, France. Over 80 projects from countries will be pitched this week. Here are some of the projects that caught our attention.

On Saturday, Pixelatl Festival wrapped up in Mexico. It’s a major event for the country’s burgeoning animation industry. Cartoon Brew covered the event and the Mexican talent who attended:

• The creators of the hit Mexico-produced mobile game Kleptocats are building their brand by producing an online animated series with Guadalajara studio Platypus Animation.
• Pixelatl’s Ideatoon pitching event is formatted as a contest, but the opportunities presented to all of its finalists are worth more than any cash prize.
• Cartoon Network Latin America and Pixelatl teamed up for the pitching event Girl Power: Pitch Me the Future. “I want to feel like it’s awesome to be a girl and be a girl creator,” one of the event’s finalists told us.

• A high-powered assemblage of industry leaders, vfx supervisors, art directors, creative directors, storytellers, and musicians will gather in Italy next month for the 19th edition of the VIEW Conference. This year’s keynote speakers include Hans Zimmer, Mireille Soria, Dennis Muren, and Nora Twomey.
• Director Henry Selick shares stories with Cartoon Brew behind the making of the cult classic The Nightmare Before Christmas on its 25th anniversary.