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AWN Headline News

Company Headline News

Zeros & Ones Settles Litigation Against Former Officer

Santa Monica-based Zeros & Ones, a media holding company with digital convergence operations in technology, content and production, has announced that it has reached a final settlement agreement with Steve Schklair, former director and officer. The company filed an action against him in Los Angeles Superior Court in October 2000. Schklair was terminated earlier that same year by act of the board of directors.

Animations Headline News

Truespace 3D Now Supports Flash

Caligari Corporation, a provider of 3D authoring technologies, has announced that its 3D modeling and animation package trueSpace 5.1 now supports Macromedia Flash. This is in addition to Caligari's existing support for Macromedia Shockwave3D, Director8.5 and Viewpoint Experience Technology. Web developers can now convert their trueSpace5.1 objects (including NURBS) and scenes to Flash format, including all trueSpace geometry, materials, lights, views and even advanced animation techniques such as script animations, bones and key-frame animations.

Events Headline News

New Additions To AWN's Calendar Of Events

This week's updates to the Calendar of Events include: ASIFA-Hollywood Monthly Membership Meeting: Wednesday, July 18, 2001, Burbank, California USA. ASIFA-Hollywood Presents An Evening With Tom Sito: Wednesday, July 25, 2001, Burbank, California USA. Animation Workout With Guest Director Ginny McSwain: Tuesday, September 11, 2001, Burbank, California USA. Fantastisk Film Festival: Wednesday, September 19 - Sunday, September 23, 2001, Lund, Sweden.

Animation Headline News

This Week At Animation World Magazine

- The Ghibli Museum: Miyazaki's Genius On Display

Get an inside peek! Tom Sito visits the construction site of what is sure to become a destination for animation fans worldwide - the Ghibli Museum, honoring none other than Hayao Miyazaki, one of animation's foremost legends.

- Confirming a New Tradition: Cal State Long Beach's 2nd AnnualJapanese Animation Festival

Animation Headline News

The Acrobat Issue Of Animation World Magazine Is Now Online!

The June Acrobat issue of Animation World Magazine is now on-line! June focuses on independent animation. Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman interviews Mo Willems, the creator/director of "Sheep In The Big City" about his career, his inspirations and a small sheep in a big city. Chris Robinson profiles Don Hertzfeldt, Ülo Pikkov, Andreas Hykade and Priit Tender, four of the brightest new stars in independent animation.

Animation Headline News

New Jobs: Animators, Directors, Instructors And More...

Gothenburg, Sweden's 3rd Dimension is looking for a SOFTWARE DEVELOPER to help create a Maya interface aimed towards 3D Studio Max, Maya, Lightwave and Softimage users. . . Tehran, Iran's Alian Shiveh Co. Ltd, an animation studio, is looking for a 3D ANIMATOR. . . Blue's Clues-Nickelodeon in New York is looking for an EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT to a supervising animation director and animation producer. . . Ireland's Clockwork Monkey Media is looking for a COMIC BOOK ARTIST/WRITER to work on series that they plan on publishing this year. . . Century City, California's EMA Multimedia, Inc.

Animation Headline News

US Animation Students Lead The Pack At SAFO International Festival

The 3rd edition of the Ottawa International Student Animation Festival (SAFO) (October 18 - 21, 2001) will feature entries from all over the world competing in six categories. This year, students from the United States lead the pack with twelve films making it into the competition. Animation school Cal Arts receives a special honor as a nominee in the best school category. "With over 800 entries from 39 countries, it had been a difficult task for the selection committee," says Festival founder Chris Robinson.

Disney Headline News

Disney To Buy Fox Family

As the mergers continue, Disney answers the AOL Time Warner and Viacom call and grows for the first time since the 1996 Capital Cities/ABC merger. On Saturday, July 21, 2001, the LA TIMES Sallie Hofmeister reported that the Walt Disney Co. will buy Fox Family for $3.3 billion plus assume $2.1 billion of the troubled ventures debt. Long in the rumor mill, this new acquisition is supposed to be final and announced within a few days according to Ms. Hofmeisters sources. Obviously the true value for Disney in this deal is obtaining the fifty international Fox Family channels.

Cartoon Headline News

Johnstone Named Sr. VP & General Manager Cartoon Network Europe

Stephen Johnstone has been promoted to the newly created position of senior vice president and general manager, Cartoon Network Europe, Middle East and Africa. Johnstone started with Turner eight years ago in the advertising sales division before moving into television channel management. More recently, he has held the post of head of interactive for Turner's entertainment networks. In his new roles, he will manage Cartoon Network's TV channels, interactive services and off-channel commerce.

Wild Headline News

Wild Brain Names 2 New Marketing & Sales Executives

Wild Brain, Inc. has named Steve Ramirez vice president of marketing and business development and Andrew Steiner as vice president of sales. In his new position, Ramirez will provide the strategic direction for Wild Brain's marketing and new business efforts. His responsibilities include developing brand strategy, creative advertising, public relations, licensing and merchandising and corporate identity. Ramirez joins Wild Brain from Collaborative Media, publishers of the popular etown.com consumer electronics Website where he served as VP of marketing.

Entertainment Headline News

Wolfmill To Turn Online Comic Into TV Series

Wolfmill Entertainment has acquired the rights to ASTOUNDING SPACE THRILLS, an Internet adventure comic strip. The show will follow the adventures of the explorer Argosy Smith after The Shift, a cosmic event that transformed the laws governing the universe. "Steve Conley's created a fascinating universe filled with entertaining characters who give ASTOUNDING SPACE THRILLS a quirky humor that blends perfectly with the adventurous stories he tells," said Marv Wolfman, a partner in Wolfmill Entertainment.

Media Headline News

Phoenix Media Group Gains North American Rights To Little Dinos

Phoenix Media Group Ltd. has obtained the universal rights to the LITTLE DINOS cartoon series throughout North America. The show is a 26-episode series that presents both popular science and scientific fantasy. Produced by Guangdong South Natural Science Museum Co. Ltd., LITTLE DINOS follows the birth, development, domination and extinction of dinosaurs. "We see the LITTLE DINOS series as a perfect complement to our own MANFRED MOOSE character," said Ron Irwin, chief executive officer of Phoenix Media Group. "Both are dedicated to imparting knowledge to children in a fun and entertaining way.

Awards Headline News

Topix Toons In For Golden Marble Awards

TOPIX, a character animation, special effects, film titling, type and broadcast design firm, has designed and produced the animation and special effects for the 4th Annual Golden Marble Advertising Awards and the 3rd Annual Golden Marble Promotion Awards. "For the 4th Annual Golden Marble Advertising Awards our job was to give the show a distinctive look and to create a 5-second identity for each of the 32 Golden Marble Advertising Awards. We catered to the playfulness of children's advertising, but the work had to play to an audience which is a really sophisticated, savvy bunch of ad execs.

Kids Headline News

4Kids & Burger King Promotes New Cubix Series

4Kids Entertainment, Inc. has teamed with Burger King for a national promotion to launch Kids WB!'s upcoming 3D series CUBIX. The series is the first original production for 4Kids and is set to premiere on Saturday morning August 11. The 5-week promotion will run nationally in participating U.S. Burger King restaurants from August 27 through September 30. Burger King will run national TV spots, in-store advertisements, a kids newsletter and a birthday mailer to kids club members in support of the campaign.

Headline News

Macromedia & Intel Team To Bring Flash To Mobile Devices

Macromedia, Inc. has teamed with Intel Corporation to optimize the Macromedia Flash Player for the Intel XScale microarchitecture utilizing the Intel Integrated Performance Primitives (IPP). As a result of this partnership, users will be able to experience high quality MP3 audio when playing Macromedia Flash content on devices built using Intel applications processors. The optimized code will be available to device manufacturers for use with the Macromedia Flash Player Software Development Kit (SDK) later this year.

Million Headline News

Jurassic Sized Jolt Hits The US Box Office

People still like dinosaurs. JURASSIC PARK III roared into first place at the weekend box office with an astounding US$50.3 million. The pterodactyl tirade, with primary visual effects by ILM, has rounded up $80.9 million since its Wednesday debut. Family fave CATS & DOGS fell from third to land on its paws in fifth, grossing another $6.77 million. The canine comedy, with primary visual effects by Tippett Studios and Rhythm & Hues, has caterwauled in $72.38 million to date. SCARY MOVIE 2 placed in seventh, grossing out audiences to the tune of $4.4 million.

Festival Headline News

International Flash Film Festival Hands Out Awards

On July 12 in New York, the International Flash Film Festival handed out this year's honors. Thirteen winners from the U.S. and around the world received the "arrow" award. The festival is the highlight of the Flashforward2001 conference and expo. The work of all 60 finalists, selected from over sixteen hundred nominations, was screened for the 200 attendees. The winners can be seen at: www.flashforward2001.com. Finalists and winners were selected by two panels of judges from the Flash community.

Fund Headline News

Studio B Gets Second Season Request On 3 Series

Vancouver-based Studio B Productions has announced that all three of its animated children's series currently airing on Canada's national television have been picked up for another season. "Were very proud to have all three of our original shows picked up for national broadcast," said Blair Peters, partner and founder, Studio B Productions. "There's a lot of competition out there and we're pleased that kids have responded well to our characters and stories." DMYNA LEAGUES follows the wacky baseball adventures of a team of teenage myna birds.

Series Headline News

Mainframe & MTV Team On Gatecrasher Series

Mainframe Entertainment and MTV have announced they have begun development on the sci-fi comic TV series GATECRASHER. The half-hour CGI series is designed and written by the team of Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Connor and Mark Waid and is produced in association with Black Bull Entertainment. The show centers around the story of Alec Wagner, a college student who is half-human, half alien and a full time member of the Split-Second Squad, a secret alien army that protects Earth from alien attacks.

Disney Headline News

Black Cauldron Director Ted Berman Passes

Ted Berman, Disney animator and director of THE BLACK CAULDRON, passed away on Sunday, July 15, 2001. He was 81 years old. Berman started at Disney in 1940, and remained with the studio for 45 years. He started as a character animator working on BAMBI, ALICE IN WONDERLAND, FANTASIA, LADY AND THE TRAMP, PETER PAN, MARY POPPINS and 101 DALMATIANS. Berman was also a key member in creating the Disney television series, THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF COLOR and THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB.

Million Headline News

Acclaim Reports Third Quarter Results

Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. has announced profitable results of US$0.2 million in earnings before an extraordinary gain on net revenues of $38.6 million for its third fiscal quarter ended June 2, 2001. These profits were achieved before the gain of $7.1 million, or $0.12 per diluted share, from the early retirement of $13.9 million principal amount of the 10% convertible subordinated notes.

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