London's Finishing School, a digital compositing, effects and 3D animation school, has recently been awarded Discreet training center status. The school will be running its now accredited 4-day 3ds Max Crammer course on May 14 - 17, June 12 - 15, July 10 - 13 and August 7 - 10 2001. Evening courses will also be available on 10 evenings over the course of 10 weeks, June 18 - August 20, 2001. The Finishing School, an Avid-accredited training center, is currently running SoftImage|XSI 201: Essentials Training, the official SoftImage course.

Infogrames, Inc., has announced results for its fiscal 2001 third quarter and nine months ending March 31, 2001. Third quarter revenues increased to $70.8 million, compared to $63.6 million for the same period in 2000. Publishing revenues increased to $47.0 million from $32.6 million in the prior year period, while distribution revenues decreased to $23.8 million from $31.0 million in the prior year period. The third quarter net loss decreased to $21.4 million, or $0.31 per share, compared to a net loss of $168.7 million, or $8.17 per share for the same period in 2000.

The 3DO Company has announced losses for the fiscal fourth quarter and year ended March 31, 2001. Revenues for the company's fiscal fourth quarter were $19.0 million, compared to $47.3 million in the prior year's fourth fiscal quarter. The consolidated net loss for the quarter was $12.5 million, or a loss of $0.26 per share, compared to a profit of $11.5 million, or $0.26 per diluted share in the same quarter last year. Revenues for the fiscal year were $82.8 million, compared to $122.2 million in fiscal 2000.

In a May 9, 2001 announcement, Activision, Inc. reported fourth quarter and fiscal year results for its interactive entertainment business. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2001, net revenues were $620 million as compared with $572 million for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2000. Net income for the fiscal year was $21 million, or $0.75 per diluted share, compared with a net loss of $34 million, or $1.38 loss per diluted share reported for last year.

Leading independent animation house Film Roman announced increases in revenue and operating income for the their most recent quarter. Company revenue increased by 51% or $6.5 million, to $19.2 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2001 from $12.7 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2000. The company attributed the increase to the delivery of more fee-for-services episodes and a movie-of-the-week special.

In a May 11, 2001 announcement, entertainment technology company IMAX Corporation reported its results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2001. The company reported a loss of $0.23 per share for the first quarter before the impact of a previously announced restructuring charge. After the impact of the restructuring charge, IMAX reported a loss of $0.46 per share. The company's comparative results for the first quarter of 2000 were: earnings of $0.06 per share before the cumulative effect of changes in accounting principles and a loss of $1.92 per share after such changes.

Threat, a new digital studio providing editing, visual effects, animation and compositing services, has launched in Santa Monica. The company has established itself in a new $5.5 million facility to provide end-to-end post services for commercials, entertainment television, feature films, music videos and new-media.

After switching to a paid subscription format in March 2001, Internet entertainment company Romp.com has announced a series of strategic changes that reflect the difficulties Web entertainment destination sites continue to face as they seek profitability. In a company newsletter sent out on May 9, 2001, the company announced an end to their unsuccessful paid subscription access format, a refund for all paid subscribers, an end to daily site content updates and a move toward “developing branded film and print projects” for other distribution channels.

The Harvey Entertainment Company and Classic Media, LLC have amended their prior agreement for the sale of Harvey’s library of classic characters, including CASPER, RICHIE RICH, BABY HUEY and LITTLE AUDREY, as well as certain contractual rights and agreements which relate to those assets. Signed on March 9, 2001, the prior deal was worth US$16 million plus debts associated with the characters. The parties have agreed to increase the purchase price to US$17 million, to be paid in cash at the closing, plus the assumption of certain liabilities.

Santa Monica’s Side Effects Software has announced new dates for free Houdini introductory workshops and training in Santa Monica, San Francisco and Toronto. In these sessions, artists will be exposed to the power of Houdini, the award-winning 3D animation software package used in such recent blockbusters as Dr. Seuss' HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS, X-MEN, HOLLOW MAN and THE MATRIX. This class includes an introduction to the object, SOP (surface operator), material, composite and output editors.