A BUG'S LIFE, a Walt Disney Pictures presentation of a Pixar Animation
Studios film, has climbed to $358 million in worldwide box office receipts
to become one of the top-grossing animated films of all time. With its
domestic gross of $163 million, the film has already become the fourth
biggest animated feature released in the United States (behind THE LION
KING, ALADDIN and TOY STORY). Internationally, A BUG'S LIFE has a
gross-to-date of $195 million and has set records in the United Kingdom,

Siren Entertainment, an Australian company, has released eight volumes
of THE MILTON THE MONSTER SHOW, available in both VHS PAL and NTSC
formats. In the fall of 1964, THE MUNSTERS and THE ADDAMS FAMILY,
sitcoms about families of monsters, appeared on US TV. Attempting to
cash in on their subsequent success, Hal Seeger Productions produced THE
MILTON THE MONSTER SHOW for ABC's 1965-1966 season. Milton is a giant
Frankenstein monster-type created by Professor Weirdo and Count Kook.
His creators meant Milton to be scary, but he turns out to be a

* Friday, May 7th, 7:30 pm. Los Angeles, California, USA.


The Film Department of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art will present "A
Taste of Tashlin: Early Hollywood Cartoons," cartoons by Frank Tashlin
which he made before turning to live-action and going on to direct several
of Jerry Lewis' best films. The program includes PORKY'S POULTRY PLANT,
PORKY IN THE NORTH WOODS, PORKY'S ROMANCE, THE MAJOR LIED TIL DAWN, THE FOX
AND THE GRAPES, SCRAP HAPPY DAFFY, PORKY PIG'S FEAT, A CORNY CONCERTO,

The Film Department of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art will present two programs of films by Frank Tashlin and Ub Iwerks. On Friday, May 7, at 7:30 pm A Taste of Tashlin: Early Hollywood Cartoons will present the cartoons Frank Tashlin made before turning to live-action and going on to direct several of Jerry Lewis' best films.

MIP TV, the international television programme market, where sellers and buyers from all over the world exchange product, takes place April 12th to 17th in Cannes, France. This year’s MIP is expected to reflect a rebounding international TV market. More than 100 TV series from around the world we be offered at MIP, such as DARIA, FAMILY GUY, FUTURAMA, and NORMAN NORMAL. The calendar of events include the following animation related programmes:


MONDAY APRIL 12TH

SPIDER-MAN TO SWING WITHOUT CAMERON. Whatever expectations were created in 1990 when Stan Lee (Spider-Man's co-creator with Steve Ditko and possibly Jack Kirby) announced that James Cameron would be directing a Spider-Man film, ended for the director of TITANIC and THE TERMINATOR on Monday when THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER reported that Cameron will not be directing this long dreamed of project. This announcement comes soon after the resolution of legal disputes between most of the involved companies over rights to the Spider-Man character and related properties.

ImagineAsia Studios is seeking a LIGHTWAVE/SOFTIMAGE TRAINER for a 3+ month commitment in Metro Manila, Philippines. Transportation, accommodations and meals are provided. ImagineAsia Studios is an exciting state-of-the-art digital animation studio currently in production on Columbia TriStar/Cine Groupe's "Heavy Metal F.A.K.K.2". Candidate must be highly experienced in the latest versions of Lightwave/Softimage. Areas of critical focus include character modeling, lighting, texturing and animation. Strong demo reel and excellent English communication skills required.

California SUN Festival will happen April 10, 1999 at California State University Northridge. This year's festival has seen an increase in the number of entries from the international animation community, with films from Australia, Canada, China, England, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Indonesia, Japan, and the USA. 57 films were chosen for screening.

Eighties rock singer Billy Idol is providing the lead voice in Sceneries Entertainment's upcoming animated feature HEAVY METAL: F.A.K.K. 2, to be released by Columbia TriStar in fall 1999. The film is based on a graphic novel by TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES creator Kevin Eastman, along with Simon Bisley and Eric Talbot. Idol will play the role of Tyler, a genocidal villain, who will ultimately be conquered by F.A.K.K., an immortal female warrior. The film's soundtrack also features music by Axel Rose, Sammy Hagar and the Stone Temple Pilots.

Manila-based ImagineAsia is the Asian studio chosen to do the production work for HEAVY METAL F.A.K.K. 2, the $15-million sequel to 1981's HEAVY METAL. The film is being co-produced by Canada's Cine-Groupe and Germany's Helkon Media for a U.S. Columbia TriStar release during the second half of 1999. The film is directed by Michael Coldeway, and stars Julie Strain and Billy Idol. This marks the feature debut of ImagineAsia, as well as one of the few times an Asian animation facility has been called upon to fully animate a feature film for a major U.S. studio.

ImagineAsia Studios is seeking an Associate Producer/Production Manager for a six- to nine-month commitment on a contract basis. Permanency is potential. ImagineAsia, Inc. is an exciting state-of-the-art digital and traditional animation studio based in Manila, Philippines (currently in production on Columbia TriStar/Cine Groupe's "Heavy Metal F.A.K.K.2"). ImagineAsia is seeking an energetic, creative and highly organized individual who has animation experience from concept development through tape delivery.

Sony Pictures Entertainment's (SPE) new family entertainment division (AF 03/09/99) has announced their first two development deals. The group has acquired worldwide rights to Kevin Eastman's UNDERWHERE, and has signed Eastman to develop an animated children's series based on his popular book. The series follows the adventures of 10-year-old Jacob who travels to UNDERWHERE, a land that exists in the same space as ours but can only be visited by those who possess the gift of imagination.

ASTRO BOY, created by Japanese comic legend Dr. Osamu Tezuka, will be made into a sci-fi live-action/CGI/animatronics feature by Columbia Pictures. The pic, slated for Christmas 2000 release, is being produced by Don Murphy, Jane Hamsher and Jim Henson Pictures. Reportedly, Jim Henson's Creature Shop may provide the title character Astro Boy. The film is a 21st century Pinocchio about a grieving scientist who builds a robot in the likeness of his son who was killed. This "robot boy," Tetsuwan Atomu, became the first Japanese TV cartoon when it started airing in 1963.

Atom Corp., a new entertainment company aiming to distribute short animated and live-action films, has opened shop. The start-up firm has already established alliances with cable networks such as HBO and Sundance Channel, online services including Disney's Go Network/Infoseek, Mr. Showbiz, Reel.com, Warner Bros. Online and Film.com, the high-speed broadband service @Home, as well as airlines such as Air New Zealand, Air Canada and Continental Airlines.

The Kids' WB! has announced two new shows for their 1999-2000 fall lineup. The first is ON THE ROPES, a live-action high school wrestling series, from the producing/directing team of Mike Tollin and Brian Robbins (KENAN & KEL, ALL THAT, VARSITY BLUES). The second freshman show, DETENTION, is an animated entry from Warner Bros. Television Animation, a comedy about eight mismatched preteens who regularly end up in afterschool detention.

Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) has formed a new division (unnamed as of publication) to develop character-based entertainment primarily targeted to the kids market in live action, CGI, cel animation and other media. This is in addition to the family films, which will continue to be developed and produced by Columbia Pictures. Sander Schwartz has been named president of this new entertainment group, in addition to his current responsibilities as head of SPE's Columbia TriStar Television Children's Programming, which will fold into this new division.

The Game Show Network has signed a deal with Interactive Television Entertainment (ITE-USA) to start airing the live, real-time animated action game THROUT AND NECK in the U.S. Using technologies developed by ITE-USA, home viewers are able to control the movement of the animated characters using their telephone keypads to input commands. In the game, Throut and Neck are two unruly beasts who somehow wind up in SheepHeaven, a mind-numbing world of annoyingly cute and adorable sheep. The players at home control their monsters to see which one can defeat the most sheep and return home.

Fox Kids Network is adding seven new animated series (146 new episodes) and nine returning series (121 new episodes) to its fall '99 slate of weekday afternoon and Saturday morning programming.

Comedian and former SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE cast member Adam Sandler (THE WATERBOY, THE WEDDING SINGER) has signed with Columbia TriStar (a division of Sony Pictures) to develop a full-length animated musical comedy featuring a character based on him. Sandler, who is producing the film with his partner, Jack Giarraputo, will also voice the title character.

The hit Japanese show POKéMON, currently in syndication in the U.S. and exclusively on Kids WB! next season, has been sold to Televisa (Mexico) and Record-TV (Brazil). Both networks will premiere the show in April/May as a five-day-a-week program. The show has also been sold to numerous other Latin American broadcasters including Magic TV and Channel 11 (Argentina), Etcetera and Chilevision Channel 6 (Chile), Caracol (Colombia), Telecorporation (El Salvador), Televicentro (Honduras), Frecuencia Latina (Peru) and Venevision (Venezuela).