Ubi Soft Entertainment generated consolidated sales of US$53.2 million (60.39 million euros), up 162.5% for the first quarter of 2000/2001 ended June 30. Without taking into account the acquisition of 3D Planet (Italy), Sinister Games (U.S.), Red Storm (U.S.), and Blue Byte (Germany), and the assets of TLC's Entertainment division, consolidated sales for the quarter were $32.44 million dollars (36.81 million euros), up 60%. Highlights of the quarter were the release of MYST III: EXILE, launched in the U.S. and Australia in May.

Crave Entertainment Group, Inc., parent company to videogame publisher Crave Entertainment, Inc. and SVG Distribution, Inc., has announced that it has secured a US$35 million in funding from Heller Financial. This financing is the first step in a multifaceted capital-restructuring plan for the company. "The industry has been extremely supportive throughout our restructuring, and this new credit line ensures financial support for the ongoing growth of our core business," said Nima Taghavi, chief executive officer, Crave Entertainment Group.

Paul Villadolid, a former senior vice president at Walt Disney Television, and Larry Hess, a former software engineer at special effects house Digital Domain, have formed Rebel Arts, a technology and software developer with a proprietary server platform designed to handle massive multiplayer online games. The technology is designed to handle in excess of 100,000 simultaneous users. Strategic partners AMD and Linux NetworX are providing Rebel Arts with critical support, including the AMD-760 MP dual processor chipset and Linux NetworX's Evolocity cluster server system.

The Walt Disney Company has reported earnings for the quarter ended June 30, 2001. Pro forma revenues and segment operating income for the quarter decreased 1% and 7% to US$6 billion and $1.1 billion, respectively, from the prior-year quarter. "In a soft economy, Disney's overall performance continues to be solid," said Michael D. Eisner, chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company. "Our studio has added yet another quarter to a year of strong growth.

Electronic Arts announced its results for the first fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2001. Consolidated net revenues were US$182 million compared to $154.8 million for the same quarter last year, an increase of 18%. On an as-reported basis, consolidated net loss and diluted loss per share were $45.3 million and $0.33, respectively, compared to a net loss and diluted loss per share of 42.3 million and $0.33, respectively, in the same period of the prior year.

Barcelona-based Morphe Art Pictures, a short film distributor, has launched a campaign to license its shorts in the U.S. and Latin America. Morphe Art Pictures has agreements with such British animation institutions as The Royal College of Art, the National Film and TV School and the French animation studio Lardux Films. Other independent productions represented by the company are the Prix Arts nominee MOVING ILLUSTRATIONS OF MACHINES, as well as BAFTA New Talent Awards nominee THE LONELY WIDOW, REANIMACION and THE GIFT.

Activision, Inc. has announced record financial results for the first fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2001. Net revenues were US$110.6 million, 31% higher than last year’s net revenues of $84.6 million. Net income for the first fiscal quarter was $29,000 or a nominal amount per share, compared with a net loss of $5.2 million, or $0.21 loss per share, reported for the same period last year. The company also announced an increase in its fiscal year 2002 earnings per share forecast from $0.80 to $0.87.

Nickelodeon and Jive Records have inked a deal to distribute records under the new Nick Records label. Under the multiyear deal, Jive and Nick Records will team for marketing, promotion and distribution of joint venture releases worldwide. The first album due out under the pact is the soundtrack to the Paramount/Nickelodeon Movies feature JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS, scheduled to hit theaters on November 6. Jive's 13-year-old pop sensation Aaron Carter will provide several tracks for the project.

Aardman Animation, Cartoon Network, Nelvana and the National Film and Television School, U.K. film and animation school, have formed the Animation Committee to discover and support European animation talent. The organization will review toon shorts quarterly. The best of those shorts will be aired on Britshorts.com. Some of those shorts will be selected for further development in film and television.

Entertainment Rights plc has announced the creation of their home video company Right Entertainment. Along with its recent US$22.5 million acquisition of Link, Right will enable Entertainment Rights to exploit its properties around the globe in all mediums. In turn, Entertainment Rights has signed an exclusive deal with Universal Pictures Video UK to release its properties on video.

Evans & Sutherland Computer Corp. has released its financial results for the second quarter ended June 29, 2001. Total sales for the quarter were US$48.1 million compared to $25.6 million for the second quarter of 2000. Net loss for the quarter was $5.1 million, or $.50 per share, compared to a net loss of $52.3 million, or $5.58 per share, in the prior year. For the six months ended June 29, 2001, sales totaled $87.7 million compared to $71.5 million for the same six months of 2000.

Santa Monica-based Zeros & Ones, a media holding company with digital convergence operations in technology, content and production, has announced that it has reached a final settlement agreement with Steve Schklair, former director and officer. The company filed an action against him in Los Angeles Superior Court in October 2000. Schklair was terminated earlier that same year by act of the board of directors.

As the mergers continue, Disney answers the AOL Time Warner and Viacom call and grows for the first time since the 1996 Capital Cities/ABC merger. On Saturday, July 21, 2001, the LA TIMES’ Sallie Hofmeister reported that the Walt Disney Co. will buy Fox Family for $3.3 billion plus assume $2.1 billion of the troubled venture’s debt. Long in the rumor mill, this new acquisition is supposed to be final and announced within a few days according to Ms. Hofmeister’s sources. Obviously the true value for Disney in this deal is obtaining the fifty international Fox Family channels.

4Kids Entertainment, Inc. has teamed with Burger King for a national promotion to launch Kids WB!'s upcoming 3D series CUBIX. The series is the first original production for 4Kids and is set to premiere on Saturday morning August 11. The 5-week promotion will run nationally in participating U.S. Burger King restaurants from August 27 through September 30. Burger King will run national TV spots, in-store advertisements, a kid’s newsletter and a birthday mailer to kids’ club members in support of the campaign.

Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. has announced profitable results of US$0.2 million in earnings before an extraordinary gain on net revenues of $38.6 million for its third fiscal quarter ended June 2, 2001. These profits were achieved before the gain of $7.1 million, or $0.12 per diluted share, from the early retirement of $13.9 million principal amount of the 10% convertible subordinated notes.

San Francisco-based Western Images is restructuring to focus solely on visual effects, CGI, design direction and creative editorial services. Facility services, which include the linear edit suite, Henry, telecine and video service bureau, will be retired. In addition, the company will expand its efforts in long-form broadcast and feature film effects. As a result of the restructuring, five people were laid off. Four were related to fax work and the fifth was executive producer Ken Solomon. "Kenny (Solomon) worked very hard and was very good.

Tele Munchen Group (TMG) has made an offer to buy out CEO and co-founder Thomas Haffa's 43% share of EM.TV. The offer is reported at DM250 million (US$109 million). However, media giant Kirch Group reportedly has a first-look option for Haffa's stake after it bailed out the troubled company by purchasing a 25% stake this past spring. Former EM.TV exec Nickolaus Becker, who pushed a TMG bail out over Kirch, is shepherding TMG's proposal for Haffa's share. Currently, EM.TV holds a 45% stake in TMG, but it has to sell it in order to get regulatory approval for its alliance with Kirch.

Film Roman has announced that it is stopping its live-action feature development division. Feature division president Mitchell Solomon and production VP David Jung have been let go and their responsibilities have been given to Film Roman president/CEO John Hyde and TV president Peter Schankowitz. This move marks Film Roman's desire to refocus on its core animation business. No word was given on how this decision will affect the live-action projects already in production including the adaptation of the TV series THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO for Disney.

Mainframe Entertainment, Inc. has announced its best financial results ever. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2001, the Vancouver-based company reported earnings of CA$2.4 million or $0.14 per share compared to $0.84 million or $0.05 per share for the year ended March 31, 2000. As expected, Mainframe delivered a total of 50 television episodes (27 episodes of HEAVY GEAR and 23 of ACTION MAN) as well as its first direct-to-video, CASPER'S HAUNTED CHRISTMAS. The firm recorded revenues of $39.9 million compared to revenues of $32 million for the previous year.

A Warner Bros. spokeswoman announced that AOL Time Warner will close all of its U.S.-based Warner Bros. Studio Stores by the end of October. The move will cut another 3,800 jobs from the mega-firm and is attributed to the company's failure to find a buyer for the troubled chain store. At its peak there were 130 stores worldwide. "We're in a wind-down process," a Warner Bros. spokeswoman said. "Management decided to get out of the owned and operated retail business."