Fox Family Channel will be shopping for a new head now that president

and CEO Rich Cronin has stepped down from his post. Awaiting the

announcement of Cronin's replacement, programming and marketing

decisions will go through exec VP and Fox Kids general manager

Maureen Smith. Before coming to Fox Family from Viacom, Cronin was

locked up in a breach of contract suit with his former employers.

Once clear of his Viacom commitment, Cronin took Fox Family's reins

Former TriStar Pictures chairman Mike Medavoy has joined the board of directors of Film Roman. The current head of Phoenix Pictures, Medavoy becomes the sixth member of Film Roman's board. Film Roman president John Hyde said Medavoy's appointment would serve to "complement" the company's business plan rather than change it. Film Roman, which produces animation for TV (SIMPSONS, KING OF THE HILL), expanded its operations in 1998 to include limited development and production of feature-length films and recently increased its commercial output.

Special effects facility Digital Domain has promoted Senior VP C. Bradley Call to head of business development and chief administrative officer and Yvette Macaluso to VP finance. As the company's new #2 man, Call will continue as general counsel, but will help expand Digital Domain's feature development arm. Call will now head the effects house’s human resources and purchasing departments. With the company from its inception 7 years ago, Macula’s has managed the finance and accounting departments.

Visual effects pioneer John Dykstra has swung onto the SPIDER-MAN project. The new project will reunite Dykstra with the effects team from Sony Imageworks, where he was recently special effects supervisor on STUART LITTLE. The Sam Raimi directed flick has also hired former PDI character animator Karen Goulekas. Dykstra told the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER that he doesn't know how many effects there will be yet, because the script (by Raimi and David Koepp) isn't done. "We're still sorting the character out.

Will Vinton Studios has named Maria Grosso as their new executive VP of development at the new Los Angeles office. The former development exec at Warner TV and Universal will work closely with Tom Turpin, president and CEO of Will Vinton Studios, on formulating new TV, film and new media programming. "Maria brings the perfect experience base to expand our producing activities," Turpin said. "The ability to bring unique and distinctive stories to the marketplace is what we’re after.

Lolee Aries has been appointed vice president of production, Nickelodeon Animations Studios. At Nickelodeon, she will oversee the day-to-day production on all of Nickelodeon Animation Studios’ in-house projects including current series SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS, HEY ARNOLD!, CATDOG, ANGRY BEAVERS, OH YEAH! CARTOONS! and the upcoming series CHALKZONE, THE FAIRLY ODDPARENTS and INVADER ZIM. Aries will also focus on the digital production process and boosting the utilization of in-house talent. Aries joins Nickelodeon from Film Roman, where she served as VP of production.

Three of animation's top producer/artists on BATMAN, THE X-MEN and THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS, as well as such comic book classics as SPIDER-MAN, CONAN and TARZAN, have joined Stan Lee Media, Inc. (SLM). Will Meugniot, Larry Houston and Thomas McLaughlin, who have overseen programming for such major studios as Fox, Warner Bros., Sony and Saban, will be steering SLM projects in development as well as THE 7TH PORTAL Web animation franchise.

Former Disney Studios chairman Joe Roth has joined Pixar’s board of directors and IRON GIANT director Brad Bird has signed on as a director as well. The announcement came on the same day that the 3D-animation company revealed heavy earnings in the first quarter due to the phenomenal success of TOY STORY 2. Roth helped develop TOY STORY 2 before he left Disney to start his own production company. Roth told Reuters that he wanted to keep in touch with the ever-advancing world of 3D animation as his new business is being formed.

Morgan Wandell, VP of programming at Digital Entertainment Network, has left his post. Though a pleasant split, the decision was due to his unhappiness over DEN’s move to acquire programming instead of developing original content. Recently, the entertainment destination obtained programming from ACE VENTURA director Steve Oedekerk’s Thumb.com. Wandell told the Daily Variety, "There’s just less for me to do now.

Kevin Tsujihara has temporarily taken the reigns of Warner Bros. Entertaindom Web site. As reported [AWN 4/6/00], Entertaindom.com president and CEO Jim Moloshok, executive VP Jim Banister and third-in-command Jeff Weiner have exited their Time Warner posts. Sources said the top trio was angry about Time Warner's decision not to spawn a separate Entertaindom IPO. The final impetus leading to the leave was when the three execs were not satisfied by the stock options offered to them by Time Warner.