Twentieth Century Fox has acquired the rights to DRAGONBALL and plans to produce a live-action feature film based on the manga property. DRAGONBALL began as a graphic novel and has become a multimedia phenomenon, including home video, video games and the popular DRAGONBALL Z animated series currently airing on Cartoon Network. The various DRAGONBALL properties relate an epic story between good and evil, involving super-powerful beings from another planet, known as the Saiyans, who protect Earth from the forces of darkness.

Each week, Animation World Magazine offers new articles, special features and theme-based coverage of the art, craft and industry of animation. New this week:



- TV Review: "Welcome To Eltingville"

Jerry Beck finds his rightful place in "Welcome to Eltingville," one of Cartoon Network's latest additions to their Adult Swim block.



- New from Japan: Anime Film Reviews

From a boy whose love is real, even if he is not, to a singing, bell-ringing hunchback, March video releases have something for everyone.

March 5, 2002

A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Special Edition.

Melbourne International Animation Festival, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Tuesday, June 25 - Sunday, June 30, 2002.

Entry Deadline: Thursday, April 25, 2002.

Adobe Systems LiveMotion 2.0 software, the company's professional Web graphics and Flash (SWF) animation tool is now available. It debuted at the MacWorld Conference earlier this year. The new version provides expanded content creation features, improved integration with Adobe's Web and dynamic media tools, and new scripting capabilities.

A Los Angeles, California-area Animation Production Company is looking for a PRODUCTION ASSISTANT . . . San Francisco, California's Cinema Dept. San Francisco State University is looking for an ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN ANIMATION . . . Atlanta, Georgia's Fathom Studios is looking for a LEAD ANIMATOR . . . Nottingham, Nottinghamshire's Free Radical Design is looking for a CHARACTER ANIMATOR . . . New Delhi, India's GameEDU is looking for an ANIMATION PROJECT LEADER and a GAME DEVELOPER . . . Lexington, Massachusetts' Helixe is looking for a 3D CHARACTER ANIMATOR . . .

The January 2002 Acrobat issue of Animation World Magazine is now online! In this issue, we honor animation legends that passed away in 2001. Read tributes to Bill Hanna, Robert Abel, Maurice Nobel, Faith Hubley and Jan Lenica. Gene Deitch gives us a few tips about luck. Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman takes on live-action animated features, with a vengeance. Plus, take a look at four studios that have decided to produce their own independent animated features and find out why Lille, France is a hotbed of cutting-edge Web animation.

One of Japan's top animation studios, Production I.G., has launched a new English-language Website as part of an international campaign aimed at raising people's awareness of anime, and introducing the works and history of Production I.G. The new site includes news, updates, detailed descriptions and pictures from past I.G. films as well current projects.

Hayao Miyazaki's SEN TO CHIHIRO NO KAMIKAKUSHI (SPIRITED AWAY) was awarded The Golden Bear, the top prize at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival. SPIRITED AWAY shared the award with Paul Greengrass's live-action film BLOODY SUNDAY. Winning the coveted award, and acceptance of the film by Western audiences, may mean the film will finally be seen in the U.S. SPIRITED AWAY broke box office records in Japan, where it was the number one film of all time, earning 29.4 billion yen (US $221.5M). But as recently as summer 2001, Disney (who released Miyazaki’s PRINCESS MONONOKE in the U.S.

Each week, Animation World Magazine offers new articles, special
features and theme-based coverage of the art, craft and industry of
animation. New this week:

- Find the Right School for You

We are always asked, "What's the best animation school to attend?" And the answer is..."It depends on you." Dan Sarto offers a checklist of advice to find the right school for you.

Each week, Animation World Magazine offers new articles, special
features and theme-based coverage of the art, craft and industry of
animation. New this week:

- No LAAF-ing Matter

Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman takes on LAAFs, or Live-Action Animated Features, with a vengeance. How come Hollywood insists on making these flops!?

- Lille, France: Hotbed of the North

ADV Films is bringing Chaos! Comics' LADY DEATH to life. Artists at SunMin Image Pictures in Asia under the supervision of director Young H. Sang will be animating the digital feature, based on Brian Pulido's original story. Set in 15th century Sweden, a wrongly accused young woman named Hope is sent to Hell where she is transformed into Lady Death and forced to battle Lucifer in his own domain. Executive producer and ADV co-founder John Ledford hopes to create a new production model with LADY DEATH that redefines the relationship between Asian animation studios and Western creators.

Discreet is now shipping inferno 4.6, flame 7.6 and flint 7.6, the latest version upgrades to its visual effects system software. The new releases of Discreet’s inferno, flame and flint software comprise more than 100 new features and enhancements, focusing on product design, workflow, performance and extending the range and depth of their toolsets. inferno and flame now have new modes for color correction and other options in the Color Warper tool. The Modular Keyer rendering performance has also been optimized along with other key feature improvements.

Although it didn’t make the original list of qualifying films for the Animated Feature Oscar, an Academy representative has confirmed that the animé feature VAMPIRE HUNTER D: BLOODLUST is in fact a qualifying entry. The film was initially rejected on a technicality -- the official screen credits form was not submitted. One of the Academy’s rules states that all forms must be completed and turned in prior to the deadline.

The December Acrobat issue of Animation World Magazine is now online! This issue is all about feature films. Rick DeMott reports on the 10th anniversary re-release of a large-format version of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST to see how it measures up to the original, and he also charts the rise of box office hit JIMMY NEUTRON. Kumi Kaoru takes a look at Hayao Miyazaki's Japanese blockbuster SPIRITED AWAY. Andrew Osmond talks to Jimmy Murikami about his five decades in animation.

Discreet’s combustion 2, the latest version of its award-winning paint, animation and 3D-compositing software is now available. Unveiled at SIGGRAPH 2001, the combustion 2 software features were designed to provide artists with new capabilities and improved performance, all within an efficient workflow environment designed to make complex visual effects creation faster and simpler. combustion 2 provides new multi-format project capabilities for film and video, including 64-bit image-processing, advanced film grain tools and color Look-Up Table (LUT) management.

Focusing on its action-packed lineup of anime properties, Central Park Media will release two new DVDs on January 14, 2003: VAMPIRE'S LURE, the first volume in the DESCENDANTS OF DARKNESS series; and IMPATIENCE AND LONGING, the continuing adventures of the sword-fighting Utena from REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA. In VAMPIRE'S LURE, an action-packed, supernatural series, a vampire is on the loose, and it's up to dashing supernatural detective Tsuzuki to stop her!

Another Japanese import comes to NATPE via Nelvana. BEYBLADE is a 51-episode animé series acquired from D-Rights, Inc. BEYBLADE tells the story of a boy who learns to harness the power of his ancestors to perfect his technique in the sport of Beyblade. The heroes bond as they battle their way to the world championship. Nelvana will be located in Booth #3025.

Adobe Systems has shipped the newest version of its award-winning motion graphics and visual effects software Adobe After Effects 5.5, which allows professionals to streamline their workflow and work with more media types than ever before. Zaxwerks 3D Invigorator Classic is included with the After Effects 5.5 production bundle and is standard to the production bundle upgrade, allowing users to turn 2D artwork into 3D elements without leaving the After Effects environment.

Each week, Animation World Magazine offers new articles, special features and theme-based coverage of the art, craft and industry of animation. New this week:

- The Art of Monsters, Inc.

Jerry Beck reviews The Art of Monsters, Inc., which showcases the film's development and concept art in all its glory. Get a peep at some of the industry's best in these 144 pages of inspiration.