INDUSTRIAL LIGHT & MAGIC just finished up the new Will Smith video WILL2K for
Columbia Records and Sony Pictures. Robert Caruso directed the vid that sends
mega-star Will Smith on a Millenium eve time traveling spree. The futuristic
effects were created with ILM's newest motion capture software.



Read Heather Kenyon's interview with ILM's Seth Rosenthal in Animation
World Magazine.

BLUE SKY STUDIOS adds DR. MICHAEL REED as a new member to its research and
development team. He comes to Blue Sky after receiving his Ph.D. in
Computer Science from Columbia University and positions at the laboratories
of IBM, Philips, and Bell Atlantic Corporations. Reed will continue his
work with geometric surface construction techniques to create new solutions
in rendering and geometry for Blue Sky.

MARVEL ENTERPRISES INC. announced two new Directors have been appointed to the Board. PETER CUNEO, President and CEO, Marvel Enterprises, Inc., and
producer SID GANIS, former Vice Chairman of Columbia Pictures and President
of Worldwide Marketing for Columbia/TriStar Motion Pictures Companies, were
each appointed to the Board of Directors.

WALT DISNEY INTERNATIONAL-LATIN AMERICA gets 11 new executives to help
Diego Lerner, president and managing director of Walt Disney
International-Latin America, increase the business opportunities for Disney
in Latin America. The new structure for Disney Latin America will consists
of four territory offices. Walt Disney International-Argentina, based in
Buenos Aires, will handle Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay and be headed by
Lerner. Walt Disney International-Andean Region, based in Santiago de

On November 11, 1999, the Hollywood Reporter reported that Columbia
pictures has garnered the rights to Marvel Comics' DOCTOR STRANGE: MASTER
OF THE MYSTIC ARTS. Don Murphy of Columbia-based Angry Films will produce
the potentially live-action feature. The Strange flick joins SPIDER-MAN as
the second Marvel property in development at Columbia. Other comic-book
inspired project currently coming to life at Angry Films include ASTROBOY
and PARASYTE.

Issue 4 of the printed Animation Blast is now shipping. This 32-page
spectacular features an original cover by Ren & Stimpy creator John
Kricfalusi, along with an in-depth story about John K.'s Yogi Bear shorts
that aired on Cartoon Network. Additionally, there's an informative
interview with the legendary Gene Hazelton, who designed Bob Clampett's
"Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs;" unpublished Bill Scott gag drawings; and
an article by historian Jerry Beck about the recently restored "lost"

Four hundred guests crowded the second floor theatre at the Chicago
Cultural Center, Sunday, October 24, for the 1999 Gala Awards Ceremony and
Closing Night Party of the 16th annual Chicago International Children's
Film Festival. The following awards for animated films were given out:


Children's Jury Prizes - Feature Films and Videos - Animation


1st Prize, KIRIKOU AND THE SORCERESS by Michel Ocelot (France)


2nd Prize, ANNE FRANK'S DIARY by Julian Wolff (France, Ireland, UK,
Netherlands)

THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY has completed the next stage in the development of
its international organization for Europe by naming six Disney veterans to
country management roles. The six executives will all become managing
director of six country groupings. CLAUS GYDESEN, 39, has been appointed
managing director for Germany, Austria and Switzerland and will continue to
be based in Munich. As head of Disney's video operations in these markets,
Gydesen established a direct-to-retailer operation that helped make Buena

Fox has removed Saban Entertainment's SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED, the futuristic
Spider-Man series, and Columbia/TriStar Television's BIG GUY AND RUSTY THE
BOY ROBOT, which was based on the Frank Miller/Geoff Darrow comic book
about a little Astro Boy-like robot and his Gigantor-like pal, from the FOX
Kids line-up. Both series debuted in September. They have been replaced by
Saban Entertainment's THE AVENGERS, and additional time slots for BKN
(Bohbot Kids Network)'s MONSTER RANCHER and Toei Animation Co.'s DIGIMON:
DIGITAL MONSTERS.

DISNEY PUBLISHING WORLDWIDE has made several appointments. GUIDO
MASTROPAOLO has been named Director of Global Planning and Business
Development for Disney Publishing Worldwide. Located in Paris,
Mastropaolo's duties will include leading international initiatives to grow
revenue by negotiating acquisitions, new business ventures and major
licensing deals in order to ensure meeting overall publishing financial
goals. In addition, he will co-manage the strategic planning process and

WALT DISNEY FEATURE ANIMATION has named JEFFREY FARNATH to the post of
senior vice president of business development and finance for Walt Disney
Feature Animation and Walt Disney Theatrical Productions. In addition to
supervising all areas of business development and finance, Farnath will
negotiate and manage international licenses for Disney's stage-show
business, oversee long-term strategic planning for Disney's animation
production units and develop growth strategies for theatrical productions

British Columbia-based CDIS, a media arts college, is sponsoring
Environment.Com: Generating Community Stewardship and Sustainability for
Our Environment Through New Media. The event takes place October 24, 1999,
11 am - 4 pm at CDIS which is located at 3264 Beta Ave. in Burnaby, British
Columbia, Canada. CDIS's sponsorship includes the use of its 20,000 sq. ft.
campus in Burnaby, complete with high-speed Internet connections, and the
presentation of free seminars on New Media technologies. For more

SEGA GAMEWORKS, a location-based entertainment venture formed by Steven
Spielberg and DreamWorks SKG, Universal Studios and Sega Enterprises, has
named leisure entertainment industry veteran, RON BENSION, as president and
CEO. As Chairman and CEO of MCA/Universal Studios Recreation Group from
1992 to 1996, Bension was responsible for running all aspects of Universal
Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Florida in addition to developing
international theme park joint ventures in the United Kingdom and Japan.

New Line Cinema's THE LORD OF THE RINGS film trilogy, based on the classic fantasy trilogy by J.
R. R. Tolkien, began principal photography in Wellington, New Zealand, on
October 11, 1999. Peter Jackson (DEAD ALIVE aka BRAIN DEAD, MEET THE
FEEBLES, HEAVENLY CREATURES) is directing from his own script. The three
films that will make up the trilogy - THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, THE TWO
TOWERS and THE RETURN OF THE KING - are being filmed at the same time, a
tactic that worked for the first two SUPERMAN films with Christopher Reeve.

Columbia TriStar Home Video is releasing Ray Harryhausen's first color and
independently produced feature, 1958's THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD, on DVD in
the US on November 30, 1999. Extras include a documentary called THE RAY
HARRYHAUSEN CHRONICLES; THIS IS DYNAMATION, a documentary about Ray
Harryhausen's animation techniques; A LOOK BEHIND THE VOYAGE and JASON AND
THE ARGONAUTS, two interviews; and textual supplements on the cast and
crew, including Harryhausen, director Nathan Juran, Kerwin Matthews

Studio B Productions has moved to a custom designed studio at 190 Alexander
Street in Vancouver, British Columbia. The three-floor, 27,000 sq. ft.
facility is home to Studio B's animation studio and production house as
well as Mercury Filmworks, a fully equipped digital animation facility, and
Dick and Roger's, a fully equipped sound studio which means that the
facility now has the ability to produce an animated show or series in its
entirety from script to post-production. The move to larger, custom

Paris, France-based Salsa Distribution has acquired the Latin American
television distribution rights to the half-hour television special GOGWANA.
Produced by London-based AARGH! Animation Ltd. for S4C, and directed by
Deiniol Morris, GOGWANA is based on THE GOGS, the Stone Age family depicted
in the claymation television series. In the special, after an earthquake
destroys the Gogs' cave, the family goes in search of a new home, and,
along the way, encounters pygmies, dinosaur air-balloons, and pygmy-piloted

Animation-Books.com, in association with ANiMATO!, the animation magazine,
has announced the results of an internet poll of the best animation books
of all time, and THE ILLUSION OF LIFE: DISNEY ANIMATION by Frank Thomas and
Ollie Johnston tops the list. While the list may be biased toward more
recent, easily available English publications, few would argue that this,
for once, is a solid list, and every title belongs in one's animation
library. According to Animation-Books.com, "Polling for the

Manga Video is releasing MACROSS PLUS on DVD on October 12, 1999. MACROSS
PLUS, directed by Shoji Kawamori, is a DTV (direct-to-video) which is based
on the original Japanese TV series SUPERDIMENSIONAL FORTRESS MACROSS, which
was used as the basis for the 1980s American TV series ROBOTECH. MACROSS
PLUS is set approximately thirty years after the original MACROSS and just
before the events in the Japanese TV series MACROSS 7. In MACROSS PLUS, the
universe's most popular virtual reality singer, Sharon Apple, comes alive

SONY PICTURES FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT GROUP has appointed five key development
executives. BOB HIGGINS has been promoted to Senior Vice President of
Creative Affairs; STACEY ATTANASIO has been named Senior Vice President of
Production; JOE D'AMBROSIA has been named Executive Director of Creative
Affairs; TARA POLACIK has been promoted to Director of Creative Affairs and
GRACE BENN has been named Creative Executive. Prior to his new appointment,
BOB HIGGINS served as Vice President of Creative Affairs for Columbia