Neptuno Films is launching a new animated show, 2020. Aimed at 8 to 12 year olds, the show is centered on a middle-class family, The Campbells, who live in a futuristic city where synthetic food and clones are in fashion. Josep Viciana will direct with a team of comic book designers. Production will start in 2002. Viciana said, "We are very excited with the challenge ahead. We have been able to set up for this project one of the most talented teams in Spain ever.

U.K.-based kids animation producer Telemagination has cast the British comedy duo French and Saunders for the voices of the two main characters in their newest in-house animation series PONGWIFFY. The series was commissioned by U.K. broadcaster CITV. Targeted at 6 to 9 year olds, the series follows a group of dysfunctional witches. Dawn French (FRENCH AND SAUNDERS, THE VICAR OF DIBLEY) will voice Pongwiffy, a witch of dirty habits, while Jennifer Saunders (FRENCH AND SAUNDERS, ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS) will voice Sharkadder, Pongwiffy's obsessively vain best friend.

São Paulo, Brazil-based AD Studio has created the visual effects for latest music video from Brazilian band AD, entitled "Get Down." The video features an animated alien playing the role of lead singer, three robots hammering away on their musical instruments and over 13,200 dancing aliens. All the modeling, animation and rendering were done with Electric Image's Universe 3D animation system, utilizing some 3D party shaders and plug-ins and compositing separate rendering passes with Adobe After Effects.

With THE SIMPSONS still remaining the top dog, KING OF THE HILL jumps over FAMILY GUY to become the second rated primetime toon. Moving up from 44th to place 35th, THE SIMPSONS scored 5.5 rating/10 share. KING OF THE HILL finished in the 64th slot, garnering a 3.9 rating/7 share. Sliding into the 66th slot, FAMILY GUY grabbed a 3.8 rating/7 share. Meanwhile, FUTURAMA forged 3.3 rating/7 share in 78th place. The U.S. universe estimate used for calculating ratings for the broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, UPN, PAX and WB) is equal to 100% of all TV households.

Phoenix-based animation house Rainbow Studios has digitally cloned and animated 3D dinosaurs for MPH Entertainment's upcoming A&E Network documentary special THE LOST DINOSAURS OF EGYPT. "We did a lot of things different on this project," said director Jim Milio of MPH Entertainment.

Los Angeles-based Whamo Entertainment and Australia-based Burbank Animation Studios have announced the completion of their Halloween special, THE CANTERVILLE GHOST. The special is the tale of an American family that inherits an English castle, inhabited by the ghost of Simon de Canterville who tries to get rid of the family. The film is the sixth and last animated special from the Animated Classic Gold Collection 1. The other titles from the collection include EASTER IN BUNNYLAND, JOSEPH AND THE COAT OF MANY COLORS, ANNA & THE KING, SILENT NIGHT and D4: THE TROJAN DOG.

Broadcast design and visual effects firm Creative Bubble has created the title sequences and promos for Showtime's SNOW IN AUGUST and GOING TO CALIFORNIA. For the TV movie SNOW IN AUGUST, the promo features a young boy walking through a snowy landscape and through an iron gate. "The film deals with a young boy in the '40s who is in love with comics and comic book imagery," explained Showtime art director Damian Mager. "We decided to make his world much like that of a comic book." Creative Bubble designer Doug Dimon said, "The producers had selected the clip for the titles.

Rezn8, an award-winning design and communication company, has produced a graphic-intensive show open and complete graphics package for FLIPPED, a new reality-based television series on MTV. The package included the logo design, animated open, graphic bumpers and backgrounds for the show. The show opens with 30-seconds of show footage propelled at the viewer through a tunnel effect which concludes with the series logo emerging from the back of the tunnel flipping the positions of the two P's.

DECODE has sold 26 episodes of its newest series, THE BLOBHEADS, to Nickelodeon and France’s Canal J. The series is scheduled to premiere in 2002. For Nickelodeon, this deal marks the first program pre-sale across multiple territories in the U.K., Europe and Australia. Co-produced by DECODE and C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures, the series is aimed at 8-12 year olds and mixes live-action human characters with CGI aliens.

Black Logic has created the special effects and graphics for the 30-second ZOOG MOVIE opening. The project was completed for ad agency PMcD Design and client The Disney Channel. The spot opens with several bouncing kids descending from a dark-blue sky. The perspective then widens to reveal a neon green trampoline that spells out "Zoog." As the children continue to flip, a filmstrip takes the viewer on a roller coaster ride through the air. "ZOOG is a main title animation disguised as a ride film," said John Mabey, head of CGI at Black Logic.