* Thursday, December 14, 2000. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

SCARY MOVIE, WHAT LIES BENEATH and CHARLIE'S ANGELS all held strong at the international box office. In Italy, SCARY MOVIE debuted at #1 with a strong gross of US$2.28 million. Dropping a lofty 59%, X-MEN fell to sixth, grossing $466,646, thereby lifting its Italian cume to $4.1 million. In seventh, FREQUENCY channeled $460,570 in its Italian premiere. In France, SCARY MOVIE held onto the top spot with a gross of $2.32 million, raising its cume to $15.24 million. The French debut of SHAFT, therefore, had to settle for second, grossing $1.62 million.

Despite DreamWorks and Imagine Entertainment's downfall with Pop.com, Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard plan to create Webtoons for CoutingDown.com, the movie-fan site purchased by DreamWorks to be part of Pop.com. Howard's toon will be based on a recurring nightmare he has been having, where he is trapped on a crazed and out-of-control film set. Spielberg's toon will also be based on one of the filmmaker's dreams, but no plot has been released. The site will debut one toon early in December and the other in January.

BOXX Technologies, a leading provider of digital content creation tools for the entertainment and digital film industries, announced that James H. Moore has joined the company as chairman. Moore recently served as president and COO at Crossroads Systems, a high-technology manufacturer of fibre channel storage routers for the computer networking industry. Prior to joining Crossroads Systems, Moore was vice president and general manager of Crystal Semiconductor and Cirrus Logic.

TOPIX/Mad Dog completed the 3D animation for a pair of 10-second spots for Boots Lights Cigarettes entitled "Striptease" and "Mirilla." In "Striptease," a crowd of lighters eagerly await the arrival of the main attraction - the new Boots Lights cigarette packaging. The old package shimmies out of its wrapper and the crowd goes wild when the new packaging makes its debut. In "Mirilla," cigarettes get restless in their old package and wrestle to be the first to get into their new packaging.

The Holland Animation Film Festival concluded its five-day festival with the presentation of its awards. This year's event was the first to hand out an award for independent animation films. With this competition, the festival sets out to promote the short, artistic animation film, and, as a result, encourage media attention toward independent animation. This year's student jury included: Joan Ashworth (animation filmmaker, England), Henk Beumers (animation filmmaker, the Netherlands) and Menno de Nooijer (animation filmmaker, the Netherlands).

Madrid, Spain's Animagic Studio, a traditional animation production company, is looking for a 2D ANIMATOR for a feature film. . . Morrisville, North Carolina's Random Games, a family-run video game company, is looking for 2D and 3D ARTISTS, an ART DIRECTOR and PROGRAMMERS. . . Edmonton, Alberta, Canada's Bioware Corp., award-winning game developer, is looking for a 3D MODELER/TEXTURER/SCENE MANAGEMENT and a CHARACTER ANIMATOR. . . Sucker Punch Productions, developers of character-based games, is looking for 3D MODELERS. . .

* Friday, November 17, 2000. Friday, February 23, 2001. Tuesday, May 22, 2001. Rochester, New York, U.S.A.





The Rochester Institute of Technology will be screening its film and video MFA theses. The November screening will be held on campus at the newly revamped Webb Auditorium at 7 pm. The other two dates' times and locations are yet to be announced. For more information e-mail Marla Schweppe at mkspph@ritvax.isc.rit.edu.

* Tuesday, November 21, 2000. Glendale, California, U.S.A.

* Monday, November 20 – Wednesday, November 29, 2000. Southern California, U.S.A.

USA Network announced that it would air SINBAD: BEYOND THE VEIL OF MISTS, the first-ever 3D motion-capture animated feature. The movie will premiere on Thursday, November 30, 2000 at 8 pm ET/PT. SINBAD is the tale of the legendary Sinbad and his crew, who are recruited by a beautiful princess to travel beyond the forbidden Veil of Mists in a quest for the cure to an evil spell placed on the King.

Montreal television producer TVA International has decided to decrease its production of primetime TV content and focus on animation and international distribution. As part of the move, the company cut 20 jobs and its head of longform production, Jacques Methe, resigned. The company said it would continue to distribute primetime productions worldwide, but would stop producing them. In addition, TVA Intl. announced its has signed a three-year pact with Studio Canal + to distribute the French production house's films in Canada. The deal is said to be worth several million dollars. TVA Intl.

Over the past week at the international box office, DreamWorks' WHAT LIES BENEATH and Miramax's SCARY MOVIE have fought it out for global wealth. In the U.K., WHAT LIES over took the top spot by grossing US$2.98 million, thus pushing its 3-week U.K. cume to $12.28 million. Dropping 64% in its fourth full week, DINOSAUR fell to fourth in the U.K., with a gross of $1.44 million, escalating its cume to $17.44 million. In seventh, THE LITTLE VAMPIRE grabbed $670,689, growing its U.K. cume to $4.52 million. In Australia, WHAT LIES BENEATH's debut claimed first place with a gross of $1.72 million.

On Wednesday, November 22, 2000, TAIS is hosting two different shows of films from the Short Attention Span Film Festival. At 7:00 PM: a screening comprised of independent films under 2 min. in length, includes films by TAIS animators Mike Constable and Jonathan Amitay. At 9:00 PM: a screening featuring the greatest hits of the festival's eight-year run, also includes three of Mike Constable's animated shorts. Please note: mature content; admission restricted to ages 18+; each program contains about 40% animation.

Leading experts in their respective fields are there to answer your questions and give you personal advice and insight. Ask questions! It only takes a few minutes and any topic is fair game. Pose your questions to experts on 2D animation, 3D animation, finding a job, putting together a portfolio, and much more. You can even jump up on your soapbox in the Animation Café!

Aaronson Ltd. is seeking an EDITORIAL CARTOONIST for mid distribution start-up newspaper. . . Aileron, Inc. is looking for a CONTENT WRITER for a new Internet site focusing on cutting-edge cartooning technology. . . Sioux Falls, South Dakota's Animation Factory, a leading destination for animated clipart and media for Internet and multimedia presentations, is looking for 3D MODELERS/ANIMATORS. . . Aristocrat, a gaming software industry leader, is looking for a GAME DESIGNER, GRAPHIC ARTIST, SOUND ARTIST and VIDEO GRAPHIC ARTIST at their newest location in Tucson, Arizona. . .

* Wednesday, December 13, 2000. Toronto, Ontario, Canada.





The Toronto Animated Image Society will be hosting a stop-motion seminar. Todd Peterson will be conducting the event. Peterson has worked for Cuppa Coffee and Will Vinton studios. The event will take place at 8 pm. For more information contact Patrick Jenkins at: 54 Austin Terrace, Toronto, Ontario M5R 1Y6, Canada; Tel.: (416) 533-2440; Fax: (416) 533-0508; E-mail: pjenkins@interlog.com; and Web: www.interlog.com/~pjenkins.

TOPIX/Mad Dog has wrapped on a new spot for Novartis Nutrition Mexico. The 20-second spot promotes the C-1000-C, a supplement that combines Vitamin C and calcium, and benefits the respiratory system, teeth and bones. TOPIX/Mad Dog used a 2D-animation style completed in 3D. TOPIX/Mad Dog producer Diana D'Amelio explains, "The hand-drawn color-washed characters introduce the new vitamin in an entertaining, humorous and informative way by showing kids in various stages of play demonstrating the benefits of the product." Tyrone McFadden directed the animation for TOPIX/Mad Dog.

The 2000 Awards Ceremony and Closing Night Party of the 17th Annual Chicago International Children's Film Festival was held Sunday, October 22, 2000 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Mayer Education Center. The event was hosted by director/actor Harold Ramis (BEDAZZLED, GROUNDHOG DAY, GHOSTBUSTERS). The Chicago International Children's Film Festival is the largest competitive festival of films for children in North America. This year's Festival screened 210 films from over 40 countries, including 36 world premieres. Below is a list of the animation winners.

SCARY MOVIE continues to do well internationally with other thrillers and chillers claiming victories around the globe. In France, SCARY debuted in first place with a gross of $5.36 million. Down to #6, THE CELL captured $568,287, increasing its French cume to $1.78 million. CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON jumped in at #7, grossing $560,303 thus elevating its French cume to $6.3 million. THE ROAD TO EL DORADO made its French premiere in eighth with a gross of $473,842. In Mexico, SCRAY MOVIE also claimed the top spot with a gross of $1.4 million, advancing its cume to $3.72 million.