Some fans, who are still shaking their heads over the poor boxoffice performance of the critically acclaimed THE IRON GIANT, director Brad Bird's adaptation of the children's book by British Poet Laureate Ted Hughes, have suggested that Warner Bros. should re-vamp their publicity campaign for the film by targeting a larger audience than the young kids that were originally targeted, and re-release THE IRON GIANT theatrically. Such a scenario appears unlikely now that Warner Home Video has announced THE IRON GIANT for home video and DVD.

McFarlane Toys is releasing four dual-packed assortments of action figures based on characters in YELLOW SUBMARINE featuring The Beatles, John, Paul, George and Ringo. Each card comes with two figures and accessories. John comes with Jeremy, the Nowhere Man; Paul comes with Glove, one of the Blue Meanies instruments of evil; George comes with the Yellow Submarine; and Ringo comes with a Blue Meanie. The figures will be released in late September or early October, and retail for between US$8 and $11.

Craig Miller and Marv Wolfman, who created and produced POCKET DRAGON ADVENTURES, are offering THINKING VISUALLY: HOW TO WRITE FOR TV ANIMATION, a single session class at The Learning Annex in Los Angeles. Topics to be covered include what's required to break in; what extra things you need to think of when writing animation; writing the premise, outline, and script; writing with your intended viewers in mind; working with story editors; and humor and action, how far can you go. Handouts will include a sample story premise, outline, and script.

San Jose, California-based Adobe Systems Incorporated has announced Adobe After Effects 4.1. After Effects is a tool for motion graphics designers and visual effects artists working with film, video, multimedia and the Web. Among the new features are: support for enhanced media exchange, performance enhancements, workflow refinements, and extended creative options and control. Adobe After Effects 4.1 will be available in September 1999 in the US and Canada for an estimated street price of US$699 for the standard version and US$1,499 for the production bundle.

San Francisco, California-based Mondo Media, Inc. has announced a one-year deal with Netscape Communications, a subsidiary of America Online, Inc., to provide Netscape's Netcenter Web site with two weekly animated shows which will be presented under the banner of MONDO MINI SHOWS. LIKE, NEWS is written and directed by Don Asmussen, a regular cartoonist for TIME and GEORGE magazines, and features a sarcastic teenager with a nose ring who "interviews" newsmakers such as Saddam Hussein and Al Gore.

Tens of thousands of gameboys in the US and Canada flocked to retail outlets early on the morning of Thursday, September 9 as the Sega Dreamcast videogame console was made available for the first time in North America. As Sega expected, sales for the console during the first 24-hours set a new record for biggest 24-hours in entertainment retail sales with a total of $97,904,618.09 (about 500,000 players at a retail price of $199). The previous record was held by STAR WARS: THE PHANTOM MENACE, with its $28 million boxoffice on its first day of release in May 1999.

Montreal, Canada-based Toon Boom Technologies Inc. is now shipping version 2.3 of TicTacToon. Some of the features included on this new version are the ability to: customize and modify the aspect ratio of each scene at any stage of production; work on up to three levels of animation simultaneously; drag and drop entire columns of drawings with their cel names and timing to and from the Animation and Exposure Sheet modules; make order and timing changes quickly in either module through insert, replace or append options; and draw paintable rectangular zones to close outer edges of any drawing.

Buena Vista's supernatural thriller THE SIXTH SENSE, with visual effects by
DreamQuest, finished second at the US weekend boxoffice after topping the
list for its first five weeks of release, grossing an estimated $17 million
over the weekend, for a total of $198.2 million. No other animation related
films finished in the top ten.

Italy, Rome-based Digital Video S.R.L. has announced Toonz version 4.3,
which provides 2D users with new tools to be more creative and efficient on
their job. The digital exposure sheet is much more user friendly, including
many new special effects, complete keyframe capabilities on all parameters,
and enlarged number of mathematical expressions for more controllable
motion. Enhancements of display features include icons in the level header
area for quick reference of elements. Texture mapping has been strengthened

DreamWorks Home Entertainment is hosting a chariot race on Tuesday,
September 14 at 7:50-9 am to celebrate the release of DreamWorks' 1998
animated feature THE PRINCE OF EGYPT on home video and DVD. In the race,
which will be known as the Pharaoh's Cup Championship, Egyptian chariots
will race through two blocks of Hollywood Boulevard, between Cherokee and
McCadden, in Hollywood, California as part of an effort to raise donations
for The Eastside Boys and Girls' Club of America, Children's Action

London, UK-based RICHARD PURDUM PRODUCTIONS has completed three spots for
Nestle Polo mints. In "Aliens," which was designed by Robin Heighway Bury,
the mint is chased by aliens. In "Cement," which was designed by John Paul
Early, the Polo mint is hounded by a mob, and in "Beach," which was
designed by Adrian Johnson, the mint is chased by muscle men into a ladies'
changing room. The three designers brought their individual styles to each
of the spots, which were all directed by Richard Purdum for agency J.
Walter Thompson.

Diepenbeek, Belgium-based Androme N.V. has announced the release of
CreaToon, a tool for cut-out animation, animated paint and any other
animation that needs the manipulation of images or video sequences.
CreaToon enables real-time editing and preview, and allows all parameters
and textures can be animated with multiple camera views and scenes and lots
of plug-ins, such as file format plug-ins (TGA, BMP, JPG, PNG and AVI), a
layers plug-in (image and gradient layer) and others. The package also

The Harvey Entertainment Company has selected New York-based Xceed, Inc., a
marketing and communications company that specializes in interactive
services, to develop a family oriented portal to exploit Harvey's brands on
the Web. Harvey Entertainment owns the rights to an extensive list of
well-known cartoon characters, including Casper, the Friendly Ghost, Richie
Rich, Baby Huey, Wendy the Witch and Hot Stuff. Potential programming for
the portal include Harvey's classic animation library, stories from Harvey

Westbury, New York-based American Royal Arts Corp., an animation art
dealer, has been licensed by Apple and Signatures to produce hand painted
limited edition cels and sericels featuring The Beatles from YELLOW
SUBMARINE. The artwork will be signed by some of the same people who were
responsible for making the original film, including the composer, Sir
George Martin, the producer and co-author, Al Brodax, and Erich Segal,
co-author of the original YELLOW SUBMARINE screenplay and Ringo Starr, the

The 19th Brussels Cartoon and Animated Film Festival takes place February
28-March, 11 2000. The deadlines for entries is November 1, 1999. Each year
the Brussels Cartoon and Animated Film Festival programs the crème de la
crème in international animation, and chooses its candidate for the Cartoon
d'Or. For more information contact The Brussels Cartoon and Animated Film
Festival, Rue de la Rhétorique 19, 1060 Brussels, Belgium. Tel: 32 2 534 41

San Francisco-based CURIOUS PICTURES has finished "Decide & Conquer," a :30
spot for Lugz athletic shoes. Directed by Jerry van de Beek, the spot
resembles a video game and features Fantm Sklz, a hip male character, who
maneuvers through the obstacles of New York City, scoring points as he
makes his way to his final destination. Curious used 3D Studio MAX, Adobe
After Effects and Discreet Paint for this project. New York-based Amster
Yard was the agency.

New York City-based THE ATTIK has created the new visual style for United
Paramount Network (UPN), the sixth largest network in the US, to help brand
its new identity for its fall season. This includes promos, opens,
transitions, and ids. To create the package, The Attik developed a series
of models formed from translucent plastic and glass, and photographed them
on an animation bed. The elements were edited to generate a sense of
fluctuation in the energy of the UPN logo, which was then combined with a

Los Angeles-based WinStar, which has recently released a number of public
domain titles under the CARTOON CRAZYS heading, is releasing a "fully
restored" version of the Fleischer Bros. 1939 feature, GULLIVER'S TRAVELS,
on DVD and VHS on September 28, 1999 in the US. Transferred from a newly
struck print taken from an original negative, this version features
enhanced audio remixed in Dolby Digital and Dolby Surround sound. The
musical score also has been remastered with additional scoring and

Cambridge, UK-based Cambridge Animation has released Animo Production
Tracker - new software that allows studios to use the Internet, intranets
and internal networks to track every aspect of a production cycle. Animo
Production Tracker software automates management of the thousands of
drawings and different personnel involved in a typical project, allowing
users to better ascertain progress, determine costs, allocate resources,
and eliminate duplication. The new software is fully integrated with Animo,

San Francisco, California-based Macromedia, Inc. has announced the
immediate availability of the Macromedia Drumbeat 2000 line of products
which provide a visual solution for Web application and e-commerce
development. Drumbeat 2000 is available in an Active Server Pages (ASP)
version, a Java Server Pages (JSP) version, and an eCommerce edition. The
Drumbeat 2000 product line is being offered for the first time by
Macromedia, which announced its intent to acquire Elemental Software and