TRON, Disney's innovative computer-animated feature, is set to return to the big screen for a special one-week limited engagement (May 14-20) at the Disney-owned Pacific El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California, USA with a new 70mm print. A special panel discussion on May 14 and 15 will feature several filmmakers involved with the 1982 production including director Steven Lisberger, visual effects supervisors Harrison Ellenshaw and Richard Taylor, and computer-image choreographer Bill Kroyer (who went on to direct TECHNOLOGICAL THREAT and FERNGULLY: THE LAST RAINFOREST).

As expected, STAR WARS: EPISODE 1 - THE PHANTOM MENACE set a record for
single day gross on Wednesday with $28.5 million, breaking the previous
record of $26.1 million set by THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK in 1997 on the
Sunday during the three day Memorial Day weekend. The previous record for a
Wednesday opening was $17.4 million, set by INDEPENDENCE DAY in July 1996.
Despite reaching a new record, the film failed to fulfill early predictions
which were in the range of $30 to $40 million and were based on early

Each year, Annie Award trophies are awarded for the year's best feature
film, video, television program, commercial, and animated interactive
production, as well as individual achievement by artists, writers and voice
talent. The most prestigious awards given at the annual award ceremonies
are the June Foray award, presented for special service to the artform, and
the Winsor McCay award for a lifetime of achievement in animation. The 27th
Annual Annie Awards ceremony will take place Saturday, November 6, 1999 at

Retired Los Angeles County Superior Court judge Paul Breckenridge has ruled
that Jeffrey Katzenberg, the former head of Disney's film unit, did not
forfeit a lucrative bonus when he left the company in 1994 and is entitled
to interest on any money he is owed. Judge Paul Breckenridge issued his
decision Wednesday and will next hear testimony to determine exactly how
much money Disney should pay. Katzenberg, who left Disney in 1994 after he
was denied a promotion, is suing Disney for what he says is at least $250

Elfriede Fischinger died quietly in her sleep at her home on Thursday, May
13, 1999. She was born September 17, 1910, in Gelnhausen near Frankfurt,
Germany. She attended the prestigious College of Design in Offenbach, and
in 1931 one of her abstract textile designs won a prize and was published
in a magazine as well as exhibited in Berlin, where she met her future
husband, animator and painter Oskar Fischinger. They were married in 1933
and she worked on many of his subsequent films. In 1936 they emigrated to

On Friday, May 14, the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS),
created to advance and recognize outstanding achievement in the interactive
arts, announced the recipients of its second annual Interactive Achievement
Awards. The awards were presented at an event held May 13 at the Variety
Arts Theater during the Electronic Entertainment Exposition in Los Angeles.
ZELDA: OCARINA OF TIME (Nintendo of America/Nintendo Co. Ltd.) won six
awards including Interactive Title of the Year, Adventure Game of the Year,

The EUROGRAPHICS Symposium on Visualization takes place Wednesday, May 26 -
Friday, May 28. Vienna, Austria. It will feature research papers about all
areas of visualization that will present original scientific ideas or
significant improvements to existing techniques, as well as case studies on
the successful application of visualization methods to special problems.
Contact info: Eduard Groeller, VisSym '99 Institute of Computer Graphics,
Vienna Univ. of Technology, Karlsplatz 13/186/2, A-1040 Wien, Austria.
E-mail: vissym99@cg.tuwien.ac.at.

*Tuesday, May 18th, 12 - 6 pm. New York, New York, USA.


Works by graduating seniors of the film, video, and animation departments
of The School of Visual Arts will be shown at the Loews Cineplex Worldwide
Cinemas (50th Street and 8th Avenue). A reception and awards ceremony
follows the screenings, beginning at 7 pm.

TWEETY: TWEET & LOVELY gives US fans of the lovable little canary and his
always-hungry pursuer, Sylvester, 10 of their funniest Warner cartoons.
Included are "Red Riding Hoodwinked," "Fowl Weather," "A Pizza Tweety Pie,"
"Tugboat Granny," "Rebel Without Claws", "Tweety's Circus", "Greedy for
Tweety", "Hawaiian Aye Aye", "Tweet and Lovely", and "Catty Cornered". 66
min. Warner Home Video. US street date: June 22. $14.95. TWEETY: HOME TWEET
HOME includes ten more cartoons featuring Tweety and Sylvester. "Birds

Cartoon Network's 7th annual 48 hour Bugs Bunny cartoon marathon, JUNE
BUGS, will take place Friday, June 4, 9 pm - Sunday, June 6, 9 pm. The
following films, some of which will be shown in more than one theme block,
are scheduled:


Evolution of Bugs - Friday, 9 pm; Saturday, 6 pm; Sunday, 1 pm.

Porky's Hare Hunt, Prest-o-Change-o, Hare-Um Scare-Um, Elmer's Candid
Camera, A Wild Hare, Elmer's Pet Rabbit.


Musical Bugs - Friday, 10 pm; Saturday, 7 pm; Sunday, 11 am.

A release date for Aardman Animations/DreamWorks' eagerly awaited
stop-motion feature, CHICKEN RUN, has been announced for June 23, 2000 in
the US. Fifteen minutes of completed footage were recently shown to
enthusiastic Aardman employees in England. The film is being directed by
Aardman co-founder Peter Lord and Nick Park (The Wrong Trousers, Creature
Comforts), and is described as The Great Escape with chickens. DreamWorks
SKG will distribute the film in the U.S. and most international territories

Animation company Film Roman has announced that due to production
differences Fox will take over production responsibilities on June 1 for
Family Guy, which is currently in production on its second season. The
primetime show Family Guy airs at 8:30 pm on Sunday in the coveted spot
after The Simpsons and has been a hit with biting, racy humor. While Fox
spokespeople say that it will be handled "in-house," a specific division or
Fox-owned company has yet to be named. Film Roman, which produced 15

In its second week of release, THE MUMMY, Universal Studios' CGI-laced revival of its mummy series remained on top in the weekend US box-office charts, grossing $25.1 million to bring its total to $80.8 million. The primary digital effects for THE MUMMY were created by Industrial Light & Magic. THE MATRIX, another effects driven action film, continues to do well, finishing third and taking in $4.5 million to bring its total gross to $145.1 million.

The School of Visual Arts in New York City will offer a course for credit on "Japanese Animation: History and Style" as part of its Continuing Education program. Instructor Brian Camp, author of several articles about anime, will focus on the recent history and stylistic development of anime, from the pioneering work of Osamu Tezuka in the '60s, to the epic space sagas of the '70s, to the visionary achievements of a host of innovative animators in the '80s and '90s.

Arts Unlimited, a 5-week summer program for children in grades 4-8, has added three animation classes to its arts curriculum. The classes will be taught by Wendy Jackson and will introduce animation techniques such as zoetropes, flipbooks, clay, cut-outs, drawing on film, and pixilation. Jackson will also teach a class
in giant puppetry. Additional program offerings include ceramics,
calligraphy, computer art, dance, mixed media, music, publishing, and

Angeles with several properties including two that are animated. MONSTER CLUB is an animated series for children featuring the characters of THE MONSTER CLUB. This series will feature fundamental lessons about family, friendship and the environment. RADIO TOONS, which is in development, is an animated series featuring classic radio shows from the 1930's and 1940's as the sound and dialogue tracks. Similar to the highly rated 1970 Rankin Bass TV special THE MAD, MAD, MAD COMEDIANS, it features cartoon renditions of Jack Benny, George Burns, Abbott & Costello, and Bob Hope.

Fox Family Channel has named ROB SORCHER head of the newly created position
of Executive Vice President, Programming and Development. Sorcher will
oversee all original programming, both current, and in development, for
prime time scripted and reality series, specials, and movies, as well as
all daytime children's prgramming for the Channel. Sorcher joins Fox Family
from Cartoon Network, where he served as Executive Vice President of the
network's US division since October 1997. At Cartoon Network Sorcher was a

Evening Sky Productions has named MITCH NADON general and operations
manager. Nadon will be responsible for the day-to-day management and studio
operations of Evening Sky and The Animation House, its commercial division,
and she will also oversee the areas of trade marketing and human resources.
Nadon comes to Evening Sky from Toronto-based Spin Productions, where she
was Operations Officer. She has previously worked in production at
TVOntario, and in animation production at Nelvana Limited. Evening Sky

On May 8th in San Antonio the National Cartoonists Society held its 51st
Annual Reuben Awards dinner, and two of their awards went to animation
cartoonists. This year Chen Yi Chiang, the character designer for Disney's
MULAN, won the Best Feature Animation award, and Danny Antonucci, of
Cartoon Network's ED, EDD N EDDY, won for Best Television Animation artist.
The NCS was formed by newspaper cartoonists in1946 and over the years have
branched out to encompass other forms of cartooning like editorial

It is rumored that filmmakers Barry Levinson and Paula Weinstein are
developing a live-action/animation project that would feature Bugs Bunny.
Preliminary discussions are said to have taken place for Robin Williams to
be Bugs' sidekick. The story line remains undisclosed, but it's said to be
less like WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT? and more like ANCHORS AWEIGH, a 1945
musical which features a sequence in which Gene Kelly dances with
Hanna-Barbera's Jerry Mouse. There is also talk of bringing the Tasmanian