This week's updates to the Calendar of Events include: Banned On Earth Animation Extravaganza: Wednesday, February 20 - Saturday, June 15, 2002, Everywhere, USA . . . Melbourne International Student Animation Festival: Thursday, April 18 - Sunday, April 21, 2002, Melbourne, Victoria Australia . . . Basic Introduction to Life Sculpture: Wednesday, May 22 - Wednesday, July 24, 2002, Toronto, Ontario Canada . . . Life Drawing for Complete Beginners: Monday, May 27 - Monday, July 22, 2002, Toronto, Ontario Canada . . .

NewKidCo International Inc. has signed a three-year agreement with Dr. Seuss Enterprises L.P. to publish interactive entertainment software for next-generation gaming systems based on the classic characters and stories of Dr. Seuss. The games, targeted to children ages six and up, will be distributed to all major retail accounts throughout North America, with distribution into Europe, New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Rim planned as well. The first title, scheduled for release in fall of 2002, will be developed for Game Boy Advance.

TV-Loonland subsidiary Loonland Animation in Budapest has created and donated a short film in support of UNICEF. "Cartoons for Children's Rights" is a UNICEF broadcast initiative that aims to inform people around the world about child rights. So far, the effort has forged partnerships with nearly 70 animation studios in 32 countries that have developed 30-second non-verbal public service announcements (PSAs). UNICEF distributes the PSAs to broadcasters for the cost of the tape.

Anima Mundi, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, Brazil.
July 12 to July 21 and July 24 to July 28, 2002.
Entry Deadline: April 15, 2002.

Corus Entertainment’s Nelvana scored a slew of sales at this year’s NATPE show, including an output deal with Venezuela’s Venevision for four shows per year plus first look options. Other programming deals saw ABC-TV Australia license seven shows including FRANKLIN THE TURTLE, LITTLE BEAR and BLAZING DRAGONS and Panamanian broadcaster FETV has agreed to a package deal of over 100 half-hours of animation.

A judgement was recently rendered by a Stockholm Chamber of Commerce arbitrator that Swedish animation house Happy Life violated copyright and was in breach of contract when it produced a second series of the animated show LISA. The dispute between LISA creator Magnus Carlsson and his former employers ended in his favor on December 21, 2001 after a six-month long arbitration process.

Australian visual effects companies Photon VFX and GMD have formed a strategic alliance and will begin their collaboration as joint visual effects contractors for the Disney production of INSPECTOR GADGET 2. The film, which is currently shooting on location in Brisbane, Australia, is a direct-to-video project from Disney. The eight-week shoot is will utilize Photon's motion-control services during production. Post-production is slated for completion by mid-2002.

Fremantle International Distribution (FID) will be launching a second series of the animated adventures of BILLY THE CAT at NATPE 2002. Based on the books created by Stéphane Colman and Stephen Desberg, BILLY THE CAT is the story of a boy who is transformed into a cat as punishment for being cruel to animals. BILLY THE CAT has already been well-received by broadcasters worldwide, with sales of the first series to the U.S., the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia, Benelux, Australia, Latin America, South East Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Nelvana has acquired exclusive worldwide rights to produce a television series, made-for-video programs, theatrical motion pictures, and individual programs including made-for-television specials and movies, based on THE BERENSTAIN BEARS. Nelvana has already secured a relationship with Columbia Tristar to distribute THE BERENSTAIN BEARS videos in the United States; the first release is slated for 2003. In addition, Berenstain Enterprises, Inc. granted Nelvana worldwide merchandising and licensing rights.

The Vancouver Institute of Media Arts (VanArts) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada now offers financial aid to U.S. students and instruction in Maya 4.0. The school offers one-year (48-week) diploma programs in both classical and computer animation. Limited seats for February programs are available. Full funding for approved American students will be available through SLM Financial, a division of Sallie Mae. Funds can be applied to tuition and living expenses. Maya will become part of the computer animation curriculum in February 2002.

The first installment of the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING is shaping up to be a huge success for New Line Cinema. Already benefiting from repeat viewings, the film, with primary digital effects by WETA in New Zealand, continues its number one run, bringing in $56.9M over the five-day holiday weekend for an astounding two-week total of $174.1M.

An Interactive Entertainment Company based in Los Angeles, California is looking for a INTERN . . . Valencia, Spain's Black Maria Studios is looking for a 2D CHARACTER ANIMATOR . . . Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island's Cellar Door Productions is looking for a 2D ANIMATOR . . . Brampton, Ontario's Insprite is looking for a 3D ANIMATOR/ART DIRECTOR . . . India's Katuns is looking for a LEAD ANIMATOR . . . Santa Clara, California's MorphInk Corp. is looking for an ANIMATOR . . . Winsted, Connecticut's Wish Tank Studios, LLC is looking for a 3D MODELER/ANIMATOR . . .

AUSFEST 2002. Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Wednesday, August 28 - Sunday, September 01, 2002

Entry Deadline: Thursday, May 30, 2002

As everyone predicted LORD OF THE RINGS, with primary digital effects by WETA in New Zealand, was easily number one at the U.S. box office this long, holiday weekend. Opening on Wednesday, December 19, the film pulled in over $18 million in the first 24 hours alone. As of Sunday, December 23, the film has a cume of $73.1 million and shows no sign of slowing down as other newcomers had weak openings. Ultra-slick OCEAN’S ELEVEN, with visual effects by E=mc2 and Cinesite, is holding strong with a second place finish of $14.6M and a cume of $95.2M.

Monster Distributes has just completed a deal with Discovery Kids UK to broadcast its educational animated series WHY? The series, which is scheduled to begin airing January 1, 2002, was also recently sold to Mediapark for Pay TV in Spain. A Pay TV deal in Brazil is currently in negotiation. The 24 x 2 minute pre-school series was animated by Irish animation company Brown Bag Films, and explains how things work.

Tropfest: Sunday, February 24, 2002, Sydney + world-wide web, NSW Australia. Entry Deadline: Thursday, January 17, 2002. Tropfest aims to support emerging filmmakers and gives them the opportunity to showcase their work to a broad audience in a festive environment. Tropfest also enourages production - films entered must include the Tropfest Signature Item (TSI) to show that the film was specifically made for Tropfest. Sixteen films in total are chosen for screening at Tropfest and prizes are announced in the lead up to the event.

Australian Effects & Animation Festival 2002: Tuesday, February 26 - Thursday, February 28, 2002, Sydney, NSW Australia. The Australian Effects & Animation Festival 2002 is a unique opportunity for Australians to learn the creative and technical secrets behind some of the biggest VFX/animation projects from Hollywood and around the world. It provides an exclusive access pass to the leading personalities in the global VFX and animation community.

This week's updates to the Calendar of Events include:

Pepper's Ghost Productions (PGP) has inked an agreement with Cambridge Animation Systems whereby Cambridge will be the exclusive worldwide distributor for PGP's production management software tool, PG Studio. PG Studio was developed by PGP to manage all facets of production for its 3D CGI properties. The software was an integral part of the award-winning television series, TINY PLANETS, which was co-produced with Sesame Workshop, and is already on air in Australia, sold to territories throughout the world, and with a U.K. version to be seen on CiTV in the spring of 2002.

A new animated series called THE KANGAROO CREEK GANG is bouncing into production. Based on the books and comic strip of the same name, the 26 x 12’ animated series is an international co-production between production and distribution outfit Southern Star Pacific, the Shanghai Animation Studios (China) and Australian-based company The Kangaroo Creek Gang. The series is scheduled to air in Australia on the Nine Network and will be sold internationally by Southern Star Kids.