The three animation divisions that make up the newly formed Vancouver-based SecondSun Entertainment, are merging under one roof. As of May 1, 2002 3D division Brainchild Studios, 2D division Delaney & Friends Productions and Interactive Game Division Furious Entertainment will begin operation in a combined production and administration facility. SecondSun's new office will be in the heart of British Columbia's film and TV studio district, 15 minutes from Vancouver, in the city of Burnaby.

Jeff Stabenau, founder and former president of Crush Digital, has launched a new company, Blink Digital, to offer content preparation services for a broad range of digital media. DVD authoring will be the focus of the new company, a division of Liberty Livewire, but it will also offer preparation, conversion and optimization services for streaming media, interactive television media and archival digital media formats. Stabenau and former Crush Digital technical director Michael Ory, have been joined at Blink Digital by many other former Crush Digital staff.

Neon Noodle Productions, the U.S. representative and marketing company for Global Animation, has shuttered their Marina Del Rey-based Spectrum Studios. 10 employees from the motion-capture studio have been laid off, confirmed a company spokesperson. In addition, Neon Noodle announced that they have let go the majority of the employees at their Encino-based location and will be operating with a skeletal staff. The company cited the events of September 11th and 2001's threatened actors' strike as reasons for the staff cuts.

UK distribution and merchandising company Entertainment Rights plc has signed a raft of licensees for the Tiger Aspect production of the animated MR. BEAN, including Downpace for plush, Danilo for greeting cards and Smith and Brooks for apparel. The first phase of product roll out will focus on establishing the MR. BEAN brand, targeting the gift market using the characters of Mr. Bean and his sidekick Teddy. An exclusive range of products is due to launch at UK department store chain Marks & Spencer's in June 2002.

Portland, Oregon-based animation house Will Vinton Studios has been named in a lawsuit brought by a janitor who claims that the creators of the animated series THE PJS used his likeness for one of the characters in the now defunct series.

In an effort to further enhance its console development capabilities and game creation for the next-generation consoles, Activision, Inc., has acquired Northern California-based software developer Shaba Games LLC. Under the terms of the agreement, Shaba has become a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision, with Shaba's equity holders receiving 258,621 shares common stock in connection with the acquisition.

The newly formed alliance of Canadian production company CinéGroupe and animation producer Film Roman Studios has begun production on SCI FI Channel's first-ever animated series TRIPPING THE RIFT. The CG-animated series is based on the short film of the same name, with thirteen half-hour episodes slated to debut in first quarter 2003 as part of SCI FI's regular Friday primetime line-up of original series.

Loonland Merchandising has signed licensing agreements with several companies to manufacture and distribute merchandise based on the TV-Loonland property CRAMP TWINS. Distribution Network Company (DNC), creator of merchandise for shows like THE SIMPSONS, SOUTH PARK and STAR TREK, will be producing apparel based on the slick look of Lucien and Wayne Cramp, while DNC subsidiary Trademark Toys is creating toys only a Cramp Twin could love including water guns, boxing gloves, artificial slime and artificial snot.

Canadian entertainment company Cinar Corp. has released its audited financial statements for the year ended November 30, 2001 and reported a loss of C$42 million (US$26.5 million). The loss is due to a number of items related to the company's ongoing financial trouble, including improper claims for government incentives, which have been subsequently disallowed by both the Canadian and Provincial authorities, as well as monies reportedly embezzled by Micheline Charest and Ronald Weinberg, the cofounders of the company.

Canadian production company CinèGroupe and animation producer Film Roman Studios have entered into a strategic alliance to produce new animated programming. CinèGroupe head of U.S. entertainment Ken Katsumoto and Peter Schankowitz, president of television programming and development at Film Roman, made the announcement on Wednesday, March 27, 2002. The first joint production will be announced next week.

As a follow-up to Barbie's direct-to-video debut in Mattel's BARBIE IN THE NUTCRACKER, CGI animation company Mainframe Entertainment has been contracted to animate the second direct-to-video Barbie feature, BARBIE AS RAPUNZEL. Scheduled for a fall 2002 launch, BARBIE AS RAPUNZEL will feature the voices of Anjelica Huston as the evil stepmother, Cree Summer as Penelope the dragon and Kelly Sheridan reprising her role as Barbie. In this new adaptation of the classic fairytale, Barbie portrays an artist who paints her way out of the castle tower to save her beloved prince.

Gullane Entertainment has signed two new licensing agreements for its popular children's property THOMAS & FRIENDS. Children's clothing manufacturer Bentex will develop a full children's apparel line and North American footwear importers E.S. Originals will develop a THOMAS & FRIENDS line of children's footwear. Both lines will be available in fall 2002.

The RTV family entertainment company has licensed an extensive non-exclusive program package to tv.nrw, the provider of regional television programs in North Rhine Westphalia. The package includes among others the animation series TIMOTHY GOES TO SCHOOL, DONKEY KONG COUNTRY, MARVIN THE TAP-DANCING HORSE, SEVEN LITTLE MONSTERS and TALES FROM THE CRYPTKEEPER along with several live-action series. The deal with tv.nrw, which RTV plans on being a long-term cooperation, underlines RTV's desire to be an important provider of up-market entertainment for children and families.

Disney Feature Animation president Thomas Schumacher confirmed that more cuts are scheduled in the Mouse House Feature Animation division. According to the LOS ANGELES TIMES, Disney plans to lay off up to 265 employees at its Burbank facility over the next year. The cuts will reduce the staff to about 1,000 by May 2003 and are part of Walt Disney's ongoing restructuring of its animation division. When the company-wide cuts were announced in April 2001, approximately 200 animation employees were laid off from the Burbank facility and animation salaries were reportedly cut by 30% to 50%.

Canadian-based animation company Bardel Animation has a new digital production division comprised of two core departments utilizing Flash and 3D Maya. "Traditional animation is by no means dead," said Bardel's president Barry Ward. "It's alive and well and living digitally.

Miami-based Latin American distribution outfit Salsa Entertainment has concluded several deals with leading broadcasters throughout the Latin American region. Puerto Rican broadcaster Telemundo has picked up the live-action/animation preschool series SALTY’S LIGHTHOUSE (40 x 30 min) from Sunbow Entertainment.

Animation producer and distributor TV-Loonland has sold three preschool properties LITTLE GHOSTS (39 x 7 min), CONNIE THE COW (52 x 7 min) and HENRY'S WORLD (26 x 11 min), to public broadcaster France 5. The channel, which until recently was called La Cinquième, is recognized for being France's primary broadcaster of preschool programming and for providing its young audiences with television that promotes learning through play. LITTLE GHOSTS is a co-production between TV-Loonland and its subsidiary, UK animation studio Telemagination.

Gullane Entertainment has joined forces with independent animation company Collingwood O'Hare Entertainment to create a new animated preschool series called YOKO! JAKAMOKO! TOTO! UK broadcaster CiTV commissioned 52 five-minute episodes of the series. YOKO! JAKAMOKO! TOTO! is inspired by traditional Spanish, Latin American and African art and music and tells the tale of the friendship between Yoko (a bird), Jakamoko (an armadillo) and Toto (a monkey) solely through music and action.

Barcelona-based animation house Neptuno Films and Megatrix, a Spanish kids' content multi-platform provider, have sealed a co-production deal to produce the animated series 2020. Aimed at 8 to 12 year-olds, the series focuses on the everyday life of a middle-class family in the year 2020, but the series' creators say it is an ironic reflection on what is happening now. 2020 will consist of 26 half-hours animated in Flash for broadcast on television and the Internet. The first episode will be launched in April 2002 at MipTV, and the remaining episodes are scheduled for delivery in fall 2003.

Independent animation producer Delaney and Friends is planning to merge with 3D and interactive content providers Brainchild Studios and Furious Entertainment to create the new, publicly traded entity SecondSun Entertainment. Combining the strengths of the three Vancouver-based companies, the new venture will focus on the development, financing and production of animated TV series, direct-to-video features, TV commercials, special effects, movies and interactive games.