All AWN Content

With Steven Seagal and rapper DMX's EXIT WOUNDS topping the charts in the U.S., ENEMY AT THE GATES shot into second. The WWII sniper saga, with primary visual effects by Das Werk, Die Nefzers, Double Negative, The Computer Film Company and AudioMotion Ltd., collected US$13.81 million in its debut. Warner Bros.' SEE SPOT RUN slipped to fourth, grossing out audiences to the tune of $5.01 million. The gaseous giggler has amassed $24.81 million thus far. In sixth, CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON secured another $4.04 million.

BKN International has rolled out 52 episodes of the animated fantasy adventure series ULTIMATE BOOK OF SPELLS. The story begins when friends Cassy, Gus and Verne discover the Ultimate Book Of Spells, which takes them on a journey to Earths center, where they must use their special powers to thwart the evil wizard, Zarlak. The series was originally titled JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH and so far BKN has completed 26 twenty-two-minute episodes. "Im tremendously excited about the prospects for this series," said Leslie Nelson, managing director, BKN Television Sales SAS.

* Thursday, July 12 Sunday, July 22, 2001. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Earlybird Entry Deadline: April 13, 2001

Final Entry Deadline: May 11, 2001

* Wednesday, March 21, 2001. Hollywood, California, U.S.A.

* Monday, March 26, 2001. San Francisco, California, U.S.A. Tuesday, March 27, 2001. Oakland, California, U.S.A.

iXL Digital Video Group has finished the head turning visual effects for a set of Pizza Hut Stuffed Crust Pizza spots, featuring the comedian/magician duo, Penn and Teller. In the 30-second "Head Turn," Teller turns his head around 360 degrees. During the live-action shoot, Teller mimed turning his head and then iXL rotoscoped Teller's hands in order to remove his actual head and replace it with a backwards one.

Quiet Man has mailed home a new spot for the nonprofit World Wildlife Fund. The 60-second spot opens with a panda walking across the screen and a large contribution envelop falling to the ground. As "Shelter from the Storm" plays in the background, the panda takes cover inside the envelope. "The bear was not intended to be photo-realistic," Quiet Man 3D animator Dave Shirk explained. "It had to be artwork but the character still must generate empathy. No matter what the look, if the performance doesn't ring true, I have failed as an animator.

German children's entertainment producer TV-Loonland AG has appointed Celia Holman to the newly created role of head of development for the London office. Holman will be responsible for the development of all TV-Loonland's European-based programming and the maintaining and developing of contacts with independent producers, children's publishers and rights holders. Prior to TV-Loonland, she worked as project development manager for Network of the World (NOW), where she worked with potential children's content partners for a fully converged TV/Web environment.

Susan Armstrong has joined EyeballNYC as a designer. Previously, she served as an inferno* artist and 3D animator for Toronto-based TOPIX/Mad Dog. There she worked on commercials for Coca-Cola, Tylenol, Sega Playdium, as well as music videos for David Bowie, Bare Naked Ladies and Sheryl Crow, among others. In addition, Armstrong worked on such feature films as THE SWEET HEREAFTER and HARRIET THE SPY.

Ascension Technology Corporation will preview their new infrared active-optical motion-capture system, the Ascension ReActor, at the Game Developers Conference in San Jose this month. The ReActor delivers extremely smooth, real-time optical data for a broad range of animation applications at less than half the price of existing systems. ReActor captures the motions of an untethered performer free to spin, kick or jump in a capture area delineated by modular snap-together bars.

pmG (project:messiah Group), the producers of the award-winning project:messiah 3D animation package, have recently revamped the company Website. The re-launch expands greatly on the previous version, adding strong news and informational components, a library of 25 easy to download MPEG-1 sample animations and promotes and sells online the company's full line of products, including project:messiah 1.5, the messiah:studio suite, messiah:animate and messiah:render.