STUART LITTLE had big shoes to fill to make it to the top of the U.S. box

office this past weekend. The Sony flick, with primary f-ex by Sony

Pictures Imageworks, additional animation done by CFX and Rhythm & Hues,

and miniatures done by Thunderstone, knocked off TOY STORY to finish atop

the bo with a gross totaling US$15.02 million. THE GREEN MILE kept pace and

walked in second place with a gross of $12.68 million and a cume of $36.7

million. TOY STORY 2 slipped to third with a gross of $12.13 million making

Recently, Europe has gotten a good old dose of American capitalism,

Japanese style. POKEMON has infested the European television market. The

children's mega-hit first debuted in the UK on Sky 1 in April and quickly

became the channel's #1 kids show. In October, the ITV Network and GMTV

secured UK terrestrial broadcast rights to the show. A month prior to the

ITV and GMTV deal, POKEMON started airing on Germany's RTL2, The

Netherlands' Fox Kids, Belgium's VT4 and RTL, Portugal's SIC and France's

Brazil's Justice Ministry has banned six video games it considers too

violent for the public. This ruling comes on the heals of last month's

deadly shooting rampage in a movie theater by a medical student. "The games

are considered violent and [are] affecting people who play them,

particularly children," a ministry spokeswoman said. "As for DUKE NUKEM,

the ministry regulation says its virtual world may have motivated Mateus da

Costa Meira to stage the cinema shooting on November 3 in Sao Paulo." All

A strike by union employees at Disneyland Paris may stop the park's rocking

New Year's Eve celebration. Disney played down the chance of a strike,

however local union leader Elena Stanciu warned, "The party'll be ruined,"

citing staff frustration over slow-moving pay talks and dissatisfaction

with a $115 New Year's Eve bonus as the main reasons for the latest threat

of a walk out. Stanciu said seasonal staff were being offered almost four

MetaCreations, a renowned provider of graphics software, recently announced

that the Board of Directors has made the baffling decision of effectively

dropping their range of graphics products to concentrate purely on their

MetaStream technology. This decision comes shortly before the release of

Carrara, MC's "next-generation 3D software for print, video and the Web."

On the third line of their Carrara announcement, MetaCreations stated that

it would continue to support their existing graphics products. However,

Template Graphics Software (TGS) recently announced that its modeling and

animation software Amapi, was receiving an upgrade. The new release will be

'officially' announced at the Mac World Expo in January, however, the new

version is available now. It features Dynamic Geometry, which allows users

to edit an object dynamically by changing its outline, profile or basic

structure, through the software's ability to remember the construction

history of the object. The upgrade also has a new Decimation tool, which

Discreet recently released a maintenance update to 3D Studio MAX 3 which,

in the coming weeks, will be distributed free of charge to all registered

users of the software. The announcement comes shortly after the company

declared success at clearing well over 100,000 copies, and are reinforcing

their commitment to users by bringing them new features so soon after the

initial release of the software. The update includes data containers for

Twenty 2D/3D animation and special effects companies from Quebec, Canada

have formed a union in order to better promote the award winning work done

in the region. Called Quebec Animation, the association is supported by the

Quebec Minister of Industry and Commerce, the Quebec Minister of

Communications and Culture, the Quebec Minister of International Relations,

the Montreal Bureau of Cinema, and the Canadian Service Center in

Multimedia Applications (CESAM). The association sets up a focal point for

Fox Family's newly picked up ANGELA ANACONDA rings in the New Year with a

14-episode marathon on January 1, 2000. The seven-hour event will start at

7 am and run 'til 2 pm on Fox Family. The show that TV Guide recently named

one of the top ten new kids shows of 1999 regular airs at 1 pm on Saturdays

and Sundays on Fox Family.

The Dark Knight descends into video stores December 21, 1999 with three new

BATMAN BEYOND videos and two new DVDs -- BATMAN BEYOND: THE MOVIE and

BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM. Each of the three BATMAN BEYOND VHS tapes

(DISAPPEARING INQUE, SCHOOL DAYZ, TECH WARS) all feature three episodes of

the Warner Bros. cartoon series. The BATMAN BEYOND DVD features the movie

and four bonus episodes of the series. BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM is the

first feature animated movie and has sold millions of copies on VHS

* Thursday, January 13, 2000. Westwood, California, U.S.A.

The Women In Animation Writers' Group begins a new series of seminars at

Saban Entertainment at 7:30 pm. Have you always wanted to write for

animation, but you don't where to start? What's the difference between

writing for animation and live-action? What are some of the techniques for

writing gags? Join us and find out! For more information please contact

Jean Ann Wright at (818) 360-8321. RSVP required.

This month Animation World Magazine is taking a special focus on Asian
Animation, especially Japan. Kosei Ono profiles Japanese artist, Tadahito
Mochinaga, and Gigi Hu introduces us to two of Japan's leading independent
filmmakers. A group of key creative talent from Blue Sky Studios recently
toured Japan and have provided us with a scrapbook of photos and stories.
Andrew Osmond takes an indepth look at the impact Japanese animation is
having on animation made outside of Japan and we begin the first in a

The Art Institutes International at San Francisco, a post-secondary,
degree granting educational institution, is seeking a qualified candidate
to serve as ACADEMIC DIRECTOR for its computer, multimedia and graphic
design programs...

ASIFA-Hollywood will host its 7th Annual Animation Expo on March 3-4, 2000,
in Glendale, California...

Ottawa '00 will take place from September 19-24, 2000. The Ottawa
International Animation Festival will recognize industry achievements in
animation with a new competition devoted solely to commissioned works...

Each year the Brussels Cartoon and Animated Film Festival programs the
'crème de la crème' in international animation...

In this new issue #18:
Cover Story: "Return to Pepperland" by Andrew
Osmond. Features: Multiplying the Monster; Newsreel: What's New in
Toontown; Festival Watch: SIGGRAPH '99, The Montreal World Film Festival,
TDIF '99, SAFO '99, and Animart; Doin' It on the Low End: Painting Frames;
Women in Animation: On a Roll: NFB Film Keeps Pleasing Jurys; Short and
Sweet; Education: Training on the Right Side of the Brain; Cartoons:
Spliced; In Progress: Bully Dance, A Monster's Calling and Ho-Ho-Ho;

The Quickdraw Animation Society web site has been updated...

This week's updates to the Calendar
of Events includes the World Animation
Celebration in the U.S., and Anima Mundi 2000 in Brazil. The Calendar of
Upcoming Events is a constantly changing reference source for what's
happening around the World of Animation. Use it to stay abreast of
animation related activities across the globe. If you know of animation
related events that we don't have listed, send an email with the pertinent

Test your skills and challenge your brain with AWN's
Animation Trivia Quiz...