VR Storyteller Baobab Studios Secures $25 Million in Series B Funding

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The creative studio specializing in VR experiences — notably the 360-degree short toon "Invasion!," which is now being developed as a feature — has brought on industry executive Larry Cutler as CTO and has put Within CEO Chris Milk on its advisory board. TechCrunch says it's one of the largest single funding rounds in VR creative to date. [TechCrunch]

Get Ready for Dueling Mulan Movies

Game of Thrones, House of Cards and The West Wing director Alex Graves has been recruited by Sony to make a live-action version of the Ballad of Mulan, about the legendary warrior who took her father's place in the Chinese army. Sony's version of Hua Mulan's story will vie for attention — why does it seem to happen this way so often? — with Disney's promised take on the same story, based on its 1998 animated film, which is set for late 2018. Disney has not announced a director. [Variety]

This One Goes to 11: Harry Shearer Mounts Epic This Is Spinal Tap Lawsuit Against Vivendi/StudioCanal

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Alleging "fradulent and "anti-competitive" accounting practices on the part of Vivendi and its subsidiaries, a new lawsuit filed by a company owned by actor Harry Shearer — co-founder of the famed mock-rock group Spinal Tap — seeks to regain rights to the film This Is Spinal Tap and its soundtrack. Among the claims? The complaint says Shearer, his bandmates Michael McKean and Christopher Guest, and director Rob Reiner, have received only $81 in merchandising income and $98 in music sales income since the popular film's 1984 release. The suit also claims that Vivendi has only "selectively" enforced the Spinal Trap trademark, blocking Shearer from performing as his Spinal Tap character Derrick Smalls. In addition to his attempt to terminate Vivendi's copyright, Shearer is seeking $125 million in damages. [The Hollywood Reporter] 

R.I.P. Ted V. Mikels

Exploitation maven Ted V. Mikels has died at the age of 87. The writer, producer, director and editor of low-grade exploitation-horror classics like The Astro-Zombies, The Corpse Grinders, and Blood Orgy of the She-Devils, Mikels was never as famous as the recently deceased Herschell Gordon Lewis, but he was nonetheless an influential figure in the evolution of low-budget American cinema in the 1960s and 1970s. "The only difference between my movies and the big-budget movies are the stars, because that's where the money is spent," he said in a 2003 interview. [Video WatchBlog]

Cinema Audio Society to Honor Jon Favreau

Jon Favreau will become the 12th recipient of the Cinema Audio Society Filmmaker Award next year, at the 53rd Annual CAS Awards scheduled for February 18 at the Omni Los Angeles Hotel in downtown L.A. "As a director, actor, producer, his ubiquitous creativity continues to entertain millions and makes him a wonderful choice for the CAS Filmmaker Award," said CAS President Mark Ulano in a prepared statement. [Deadline]