All AWN Content

This week's updates to the Calendar of Events include:

dhima Student Presentation and Open House: Friday, April 26, 2002, Santa Monica, California USA . . . New York Premiere of 3D Animated Feature Film: Wednesday, May 01, 2002, Brooklyn, New York USA . . . Toronto Online Film Festival: Monday, September 16 - Wednesday, September 18, 2002, Toronto, Ontario Canada . . . Max the Mutt Animation School - Open House: Saturday, April 27 - Sunday, April 28, 2002, Toronto, Ontario Canada.

Global entertainment company peppermint has signed a deal with DIC Entertainment to distribute their eclectic catalogue throughout Asia. Peppermint will have exclusive distribution rights for 59 different titles, representing 1174 episodes, in Asian territories, including Malaysia, Indonesia and South Korea. DIC's catalog of animation and children's entertainment includes the animated series THE HURRICANES, which follows a soccer team as they tour the world, as well as the popular series' INSPECTOR GADGET and SONIC THE HEDGEHOG.

German distributor EM.TV has sold Jim Henson's live-action puppet series, THE HOOBS (250 x 24-minutes), to the German public broadcaster ZDF and the children's channel KI.KA. The show is scheduled to air on ARD/ZDF-owned KI.KA in October 2002, with broadcast on ZDF in Spring 2003. THE HOOBS currently airs on Channel 4 and Nick Jr. in the UK, and the franchise reaches over 40 territories worldwide with a combination of broadcast license and consumer product deals. EM.TV holds comprehensive European rights to the series.

A group of comic book classics have arrived on home video this week, including BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES, X-MEN: EVOLUTION and JUSTICE LEAGUE. The feature-length debut of JUSTICE LEAGUE has DVD Extras including special DVD-ROM features and is available on DVD for a suggested retail price of $19.98. Additionally, the Caped Crusader swoops onto shelves with four new DVDs, BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES -- THE LEGEND BEGINS, BATMAN & MR.

Now under Disney ownership, Fox Kids Europe (FKE) has announced that Buena Vista International Television (BVI-TV), a division of The Walt Disney Company, will service distribution for FKE's Saban library beginning May 1, 2002. The Saban library contains more than 6,300 episodes of children's programming including major franchises such as SPIDER-MAN, POWER RANGERS, X-MEN, DIGIMON, THE INCREDIBLE HULK and INSPECTOR GADGET. FKE owns the television rights in Europe and the Middle East to all children's programming in the Saban library.

New York-based DMA Animation has again teamed with producers WGBH-TV (Boston, MA) and Sirius Thinking, Ltd. (New York, NY), to create ten new animated shorts for the PBS series BETWEEN THE LIONS. Eight of the two- to three-minute animations will be featured in the third season of half-hour episodes, scheduled to roll out nationally in September 2002, while the remaining two are planned for the 2003 season. BETWEEN THE LIONS is geared toward children four to seven years old and blends animation with puppets and live-action.

The Special Edition 2-disc DVD release of Osamu Tezukas METROPOLIS is now in stores. Based on the classic manga by Osamu Tezuka and directed by Rintaro (X, GALAXY EXPRESS 999), METROPOLIS features a newly subtitled version of the film along with the dubbed version. Other features include: new fold-out packaging with outer sleeve, widescreen and full screen presentations, "The Making of Osamu Tezukas Metropolis" and "Interview with Rintaro Katsushiro" featurettes, animation comparisons and more. Suggested retail price: DVD $27.95.

Graphics studio and publisher Marlin Studios released PEOPLE N MOTION, two new libraries in its series of texture libraries created for use by 2D and 3D graphics artists. The texture maps can be used in any 3D program that makes use of animated textures, and can be composited onto backgrounds in 2D programs. No special software is required beyond the user's particular 2D or 3D program. Each PEOPLE N MOTION library has a set of sequential animation files that allows the graphics user to create the illusion of moving or standing people.

The 6th Pulcinella Awards were presented in Positano, Italy, April 22, 2002 at Cartoons on the Bay, the international festival and conference on television animation. 38 programs were in competition for this year's awards. The international jury was made up of Bob Balser (president of Cartoon, Belgium), Eve Baron (head of the childrens department, France 3, France), Bill Kroyer (senior animation director at Rhythm & Hues, USA), Phillippe Jacot (director of children's programming UBE, Switzerland) and Gianfranco Noferi (director of RAI, Italy).