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Disney is releasing for the first time PETE'S DRAGON in its original theatrical 135-minute cut. Hitting stores on January 16, 2001, the VHS and DVD will have a restored and remastered video and audio track. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Original Song Score and Best Song for "Candle On The Water." The story follows lighthouse keeper Lampie (Mickey Rooney) and Nora (Helen Reddy) as they try to save Pete (Sean Marshall) and his pet dragon Elliot from his cruel foster mother Mrs. Gogan (Shelley Winters) and the scheming quack, Dr. Terminus (Jim Dale).

Class-Key Chew-Po Commercials has created two "Election" spots for General Mills' Cocoa Puffs cereal. "Election: Part I" has Sonny the cuckoo bird campaigning against two other candidates and promising to put real chocolate money in specially packaged Cocoa Puffs cereal boxes. In the second spot, Sonny wins the election and announces that for a limited time chocolate coins will be in all Cocoa Puffs Cereal boxes.

Unbound Studios, an animation and interactive entertainment company, has announced Jill Proctor Ramirez to the newly created position of VP of business development. Proctor Ramirez began her career as a newscaster in Dallas, Texas. Later she held the positions of director of development at Morgan Hill Films/Hearst Entertainment and vice president of development at the Dick Clark Film Group.

The iXL Digital Video Group, New York, a graphic design and visual effects company, has added Robin Horlick as executive producer and Doug Dimon as senior visual effects artist. Horlick joins iXL following four years as director of sales/executive producer at Sony Music Studios, New York. During her career in television production she has won an Emmy, Peabody and BDA awards.

* Wednesday, January 24 - Thursday, January 25, 2001. Toronto, Canada.

In light of its recent acquisitions of Sony Wonder/Sunbow Entertainment and Paris-based Salsa Distribution, German kids' production house TV Loonland has added key components to its sales staff. Marzenna Czubowicz was hired to head up sales for TV Loonland. Besides overseeing the company's sales offices in London, Paris and New York, she will direct distribution of the company's content in the U.K., Germany, Spain, Ireland, Portugal, Poland, Russia, Israel and South Africa. Previously, Czubowicz served as director of sales at Alliance Atlantis Television International.

Ang Lee, the director of CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, is in talks to direct the feature version of Marvel Comics' THE INCREDIBLE HULK. Universal Pictures is producing the film and is scheduling it to unveil in theaters in the summer of 2003. Gale Anne Hurd is producing the flick with Marvel Studios' president Avi Arad. Lee's production partner James Schamus is also joining the producing team. Sources say that X-MEN scribe David Hayter's draft of the HULK was what lured Lee into the director's seat.

The Federal Communications Commission gave the final approval to the US$106 billion merger of America Online and Time Warner. The deal will give AOL access to Time Warner's high-speed cable lines allowing the merged company to leverage content to AOL subscribers. The two conditions put on the merger opened Time Warner's cable lines to other Internet Service Providers and stipulated that any upgrades in AOL's instant messenger service would allow communication with other instant messenger services. Currently, AOL instant messenger users can only communicate to other AOL subscribers.

AWN's Web Animation Guide is the place for what's new on the Net. In this week's installment find what toon won AtomFilm's Animation Showdown 2, more holiday specials, a new installment of John K's THE GODDAMN GEORGE LIQUOR PROGRAM and much, much more!

Get your Web Animation Guide here!

Also every week AWN's associate editor Rick DeMott highlights what he thinks is the top new toon in cyberspace in "Rick's Picks!"

* Saturday, February 10 Sunday, May 13, 2001. San Francisco, California, U.S.A.

The Exploratorium is sponsoring a major exhibition entitled "Behind