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Mid-July doesn’t exactly constitute the dog days of summer, but for parents with kids to keep entertained it’s certainly close enough. Summer break is only half over for most kids across the United States, and that means parents have at least another month of kids with nothing but time on their hands.

To combat the boredom that can crop up during this time of year, parents should check out Sling Freestream. Freestream is, as the name suggests, completely free to all users, whether they subscribe to Sling TV’s live TV service or not. The service offers hundreds of free streaming channels, including some selections that are tailor-made for keeping children entertained.

Watch Now $0 / month sling.com What Are the Top Kids Channels Available on Sling Freestream?

Sling Freestream’s channel count has grown to over 400, and it offers more than 41,000 titles to stream on-demand as well. No...

Gold House and the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment (Cape) have launched Gold Open to celebrate the historic release of the R-rated comedy, “Joy Ride.”

Gold Open urges the Asian Pacific community to connect and join together, via social media and at theaters, to drive “Joy Ride” to become a success during its July 7 opening weekend.

The celebratory effort will include Gold Open screenings across the U.S., as a result of the initiative’s current theater buyouts. Those contributing to the current initiative include Meta, Spotify, Stand With Asians, Asians Are Strong, Asian Comedy Fest, Chicago Asian Network, Asian CineVision, Asian Pacific leaders and Gold House members: Janet Yang (Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences president), Agnes Chu (Conde Nast Entertainment president), David Chiu (San Francisco City attorney), Julia Gouw (chairwoman of Piermont Bank), Keli Lee, Sophia Yen, Bernice Kwok-Gabel and Yao King (founder and Cio of...

Legendary U.K. animation studio Aardman Animations has greenlit a new preschool series, “The Very Small Creatures,” commissioned by Sky Kids and utilizing characters from the iconic Aardman “Morph” universe. The commission marks the first time in more than a decade that Aardman has created a series for the age group – since 2009’s popular “Timmy Time.”

Set to launch on Sky Kids and Sky’s Now streaming platform in November of this year, “The Very Small Creatures” will be delivered in 20, three-minute mini-episodes and feature Aardman’s signature stop-motion claymation stylings, supplemented by what the studio describes as an “occasional graphic flourish.”

“The Very Small Creatures” follows five, genderless clay creatures who pass their time exploring children’s play areas when no people are present. With a childlike sense of adventure, Pink, Blue, Orange, Yellow and Green learn how the world around them works through collaborative play.

As is typical for Aardman productions,...

With Christmas now behind us, and 2021 fast approaching, it’s a good time to review all the new content that’s been added to Netflix in the last week. Highlights include the period drama Bridgerton, as well as Charlie Brooker’s Death to 2020 special, and the George Clooney-directed The Midnight Sky. What’s been made available, then, to the platform in the last seven days?

Well, on the movie side, Brooker’s Death to 2020 adapts his Screenwipe review format for Netflix, with the likes of Hugh Grant, Stranger Things‘ Joe Keery, and Samuel L. Jackson popping up in a fictional take on this year’s events. Given the quality of the recent Black Mirror entries from Brooker, we have high expectations for this new one-off, even if the world’s apparently been too bleak for a fresh batch of episodes. Another big original release, meanwhile, is Robert Rodriguez’s We Can Be Heroes,...

As we head closer to Christmas, now’s a good time to catch up on your Netflix viewing, and the platform have a lot of new movies and shows coming this week. Highlights include original features like The Midnight Sky, as well as drama Bridgerton, and fresh seasons of returning family series. Indeed, given the amount of content already added to the service this December, it shouldn’t be difficult to find something to watch over the holidays.

In terms of original films, the George Clooney-directed The Midnight Sky provides a timely story of an Arctic scientist trying to contact a team of astronauts before they return to a worldwide catastrophe. Based on a novel by Lily Brooks-Dalton, the cast also includes the likes of Felicity Jones and Kyle Chandler. Additionally, we’ll be getting the LGBT-themed Taiwanese picture Your Name Engraved Herein, Norwegian comedy sequel Asphalt Burning (Børning 3), and French production DNA.

Amazon today announced it had snagged a U.S. content licensing agreement with Aardman Animations that will make Prime Instant Video the exclusive subscription streaming home for the TV and short film series Wallace & Gromit, Shaun The Sheep, Timmy Time and classic animation Rex The Runt. In addition, new shows from the Shaun The Sheep and Timmy Time series will be added to Prime Instant Video, including Seasons 3 and 4 of Shaun The Sheep, the Shaun The Sheep: Championsheeps special, and two new Timmy Time specials. Created in Aardman’s distinctive stop-motion animation style, the lead characters in Wallace & Gromit […]...

Amazon today announced a U.S. content licensing agreement with Aardman Animations that will make Prime Instant Video the exclusive subscription streaming home for the beloved, award-winning television and short film series "Wallace & Gromit," "Shaun the Sheep," "Timmy Time" and classic animation "Rex the Runt." Fans of the charming characters and their adventures now have access to this collection of Aardman content on hundreds of connected devices using their Prime membership.

Ang Lee’s tale of survival at sea beats three animated features to win best film.

BAFTA announced the winners of the British Academy Children’s Awards at a ceremony in London last night.

In the Feature Film category Brave, Paranorman and Wreck-It Ralph were all beaten by Life of Pi, the critically acclaimed box-office hit adapted from the best-selling novel.

The results were also announced for the BAFTA Kids’ Vote. Hundreds of thousands of votes were cast by 7-14 year-olds who had their say in a nationwide poll to choose their favourite film, television programme, website and game.

The winners included Despicable Me 2, which beat the likes of Monsters University, Twilight and The Hobbit to win best feature film; and game Despicable Me: Minion Rush, which proved more popular than entries including Angry Birds Star Wars and Lego Lord of the Rings.

Best comedy in the main competition was won by BBC series [link=tt...

Initially a spin off from the popular - and Oscar winning - stop motion animated Wallace And Gromit series of short films, Shaun the Sheep has gone on to become arguably the biggest title in the Aardman Animation catalog. Shaun is now the star of his own long running television series, has spawned a spin off series of his own (Timmy Time) and is now following his predecessors on the the big screen.Yep, Shaun is getting a feature film of his own, one in which Shaun's antics lead to their farm home being lost and Shaun needing to trek to the big city to save their Farmer and their home. Richard Starzak and Mark Burton will write and direct with Aardman producing and financial backing...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Aardman says its pre-school programmes Timmy Time and World of Invention continue to 'recoup quicker than expected'

The creator of Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep has more than doubled its turnover in the UK, thanks to the success of two Hollywood blockbusters.

Profits from Arthur Christmas and Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists were not included in the results for Aardman Holdings, although the jump in revenues – from £53.5m in 2010 to £66.8m in 2011 – does include upfront fees from Sony Pictures, the company's Hollywood producer.

Aardman, which has published its annual accounts, said a new series of its pre-school programmes Timmy Time and Wallace and Gromit's World of Invention, both shown on the BBC, had been well-received and "continued to recoup quicker than expected".

However, fewer episodes of Timmy Time had been sold to other European countries, resulting in revenues from the EU falling from £4m to £1.8m. UK revenues,...

Disney Channel programmers from North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia are teaming to acquire the rights for Aardman Animations' Timmy, a stop-motion animated series from the studio behind "Wallace & Gromit."

Timmy is set to premiere internationally on Playhouse Disney in 2009.