Tagged: MGM

Adams, Kubert and Lee Come To Aid Of Concentration Camp Artist

Adams, Kubert and Lee Come To Aid Of Concentration Camp Artist

  • News
  • August 9, 2008

 

The perfect trifecta of living comic book legends –  Neal Adams, Joe Kubert, and Stan Lee – have come to the aid of Nazi concentration camp survivor and animator Dina Gottlieboa Babbit in her fight to retrieve her long stolen artwork from a Polish museum.

According to today’s New York Times, Ms. Babbit survived two years at the infamous Auschwitz Polish concentration camp by painting watercolor portraits for the notorious butcher of Aushwitz, Dr. Josef Mengele. Many of these paintings are in the possession of the Aushwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum; as her work, Ms. Babbit claims ownership and has long demanded its return. The Museum has refused, and Neal, Joe and Stan have taken up the effort.

To help raise awareness, Neal teamed up with Rafael Medoff, the director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, to produce a six page comics story detailing the situation. The story was inked – in part – by Joe and sports an introduction from Stan. 

They are presently looking for a publisher.

Since her liberation, Ms. Babbit had worked as an animator for Jay Ward Productions, Warner Bros. Animation, and MGM.

SDCC: Darren Aronofsky to Direct ‘Robocop’

  • News
  • July 27, 2008

The long-rumored reboot of Robocop at the hands of director Darren Aronofsky was made official this week, Variety is reporting.

The previous trilogy is going to get a reboot, and apparently the idea is  to take the mecha-lawman story and make it more noir-influenced. Personally, I was hoping for an Old Western.

From the article:

Darren Aronofsky has signed on to direct and David Self is penning a new installment about the hero whose tagline is "part man, part machine and all cop."

"RoboCop," which is being fast-tracked for a 2010 release, becomes the first potential tentpole to come together since Mary Parent took the reins of MGM in March. Aronofsky’s involvement has been one of the worst kept secrets, with rumors rampant in the blogosphere that "The Fountain" helmer was eyeing the project.

Happy Birthday: The Hays Code

Happy Birthday: The Hays Code

On March 31, 1930, the Movie Producers and Distributors Association (the MPPDA) first instituted its Production Code, also known as "The Hays Code," because lawyer Will H. Hays headed the association.

The code prohibited filmmakers from producing anything that did not show “correct standards of life, subject only to the requirements of drama and entertainment.” This included any and all nudity, depiction of illegal drug use, offensive words, and ridicule of religion or marriage. On July 1, 1934, the Production Code Administration was established and every film was required to have a certificate of approval from them before it could be released.

The MPPDA became the Motion Picture Association of America (the MPAA) and continued to administer the Code until 1967, when MGM released the film Blowup despite being refused approval. The MPAA then worked on a rating system instead, and put it into effect on November 1, 1968. A modified version of that rating system is still used today.

 

On This Day: Joe Barbera

On This Day: Joe Barbera

  • News
  • March 24, 2008

Joseph Roland “Joe” Barbera was born on March 24, 1911 in the Little Italy section of New York City. Though he loved drawing from an early age, Barbera put art aside for a more traditional job as a banker.

When the Great Depression hit, his banking job disappeared, however, and Barbera turned back to his first love. In 1932 he joined the Van Beuren Studio as an animator and scriptwriter. When Van Beuren closed down four years later Barbera moved to MGM. In 1938 he first teamed with William Hanna, and their second joint project, the first Tom & Jerry cartoon, Puss Gets the Boot, was nominated for an Academy Award.

Hanna and Barbera continued to work together, receiving seven Academy Awards over 17 years for Tom & Jerry. In 1955 they took charge of MGM’s animation division—when it closed two years later they founded their own company, H-B Enterprises, which they soon renamed Hanna-Barbera Productions.

Together they produced the Flintstones, the Jetsons, Scooby-Doo, and many other great American cartoons. Barbera died on December 18, 2006 of natural causes. He was 95 years old.

 

Free Hot Comics Links For A Super Weekend

Free Hot Comics Links For A Super Weekend

  • News
  • February 3, 2008

On this "Super" weekend, ComicMix Radio is more than happy to offer a number of surfing options to keep you busy during the parts of the SuperBowl between the cool commercials.

 
One of those commercials will be the latest trailer for the Iron Man movie from Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment. Look for it to run at around 7:30 PM. Chances are, you have already seen the tease here at Marvel. After the big game, the new ad will also be available here at Apple, and at  the official movie website. Tomorrow it will also hit sites that include Yahoo Sports! and ESPN.com, so basically you won’t be able to miss it. 
 
Brian Wood has posted his Channel Zero design book, Public Domain, as a free PDF download here. Public Domain is a collection of 145 pages of black and white artwork that includes extras generated in 1996-98 during the creation of Wood’s first graphic novel Channel Zero. 
 
Oni Press is picking up the sword and shield with North World, Book 1: The Epic of Conrad, a new original graphic novel series from cartoonist and web comic creator Lars Brown. Part Lord Of The Rings and part Gross Pointe Blank, North World is a fantasy epic that is also a webcomic that you can see here.
 
And as always, you can subscribe to our podcasts via iTunes - ComicMix or RSS!

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Guillermo del Toro to Direct The Hobbit(s)?

Guillermo del Toro to Direct The Hobbit(s)?

  • News
  • January 29, 2008

Guillermo del Toro, director of the critically praised Pan’s Labyrinth and the comic adaptations Hellboy and Blade II, is in talks to helm a pair of films based on author J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings precursor, The Hobbit.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, del Toro is on a short list of directors who studios New Line and MGM, the holders of the film rights, believe to have both the filmmaking chops and respect for the source material necessary for another wildly successful blockbuster. If del Toro indeed becomes the director of The Hobbit, he would become the second filmmaker to to take on a Tolkien project after making a name for himself in the realm of horror films. Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson began his career behind the camera of such cult-classic horror films as Bad Taste, Braindead (a.k.a. Dead Alive) and The Frighteners.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

Few filmmakers have the cachet that del Toro has, as well as a deep love for the source material, an assured grasp of fantasy filmmaking and an understanding and command of geek culture as well as its respect. Del Toro has built that goodwill through such films as the Oscar-nominated "Pan’s Labyrinth," "Hellboy," "Blade 2" (which was made by New Line) and "The Devil’s Backbone."

Also of note: After settling a heated dispute with Jackson over "profit participation," the studios have agreed on an Executive Producer role for Jackson in The Hobbit, with the director also overseeing certain creative elements of the films.

The Hobbit films are tentatively scheduled for release in 2010 and 2011, but no writers have been assigned to the projects yet due to the WGA strike. Once the strike is settled, the studios plan to fast-track the projects.

 

 

 

Happy 95th birthday, Gene Kelly!

Happy 95th birthday, Gene Kelly!

  • News
  • August 23, 2007

Just because… oh, all right, we’ll tie it into comics somehow. Here, enjoy one of the more interesting crossovers from the MGM days:

Marvel movies made messy by mortgage meltdown?

Marvel movies made messy by mortgage meltdown?

  • News
  • August 17, 2007

My spidey-cents are tingling, and I don’t know that I like what I’m thinking.

First we have a piece from the Financial Times (via Salon) that says MGM may have delays in raising funding for a number of upcoming blockbuster movies, including the next installments in the James Bond and Terminator franchises due to the global credit crunch that is causing chaos in financial markets. Then we have a piece in Variety that shows that the bill for Endemol, the European production giant famous for "Big Brother" and "Deal or No Deal," has become a bit pricier thanks to the same credit crunch, and that it’s also put a hold on the planned sales of Virgin Media, the U.K. cable outfit.

So now I’m thinking about the $525 million in financing that Merrill Lynch has lined up for Marvel to produce its slate of films, which is really little more than a credit line — and I’m wondering how stable it really is. Does anybody how secure Marvel’s financing really is at this moment?

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