AWN Headline News

Gary Sproule has been named vice president of finance and chief financial officer at Disney Interactive. He will oversee the worldwide finance function for the company, including strategic planning, controllership, operations, administration and information technology. Sproule joins Disney Interactive from Whatshotnow.com, where he was the chief financial officer and chief operating officer. Prior to Whatshotnow.com, Sproule was chief financial officer at both Magnet Interactive Communications and Electek Group.

Universal has green-lit an animated version of Maurice Sendak's classic children's book WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE. Adding more intrigue to the project, Disney veterans Eric Golderg and David Reynolds (THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE) have been signed to direct and write the film respectively. Goldberg co-directed POCAHONTAS and was a key animator on such films as ALADDIN, HERCULES and FANTASIA 2000. Due to the fact that Tom Hanks' Playtone Prods. is producing the film, the TOY STORY star will most likely be a member of the voice cast.

According to Sound Scan, a video industry analyst group, Pioneer Entertainment's newly released AKIRA was the number-one selling DVD for the week of July 29, 2001. The classic anime film was first released in 1989, but was recently restored by Pioneer Entertainment at a cost of $1 million. The DVD beat the debut of live-action films FAMILY MAN, starring Nicolas Cage, and SWEET NOVEMBER, starring Keanu Reeves. The film is set is Neo-Tokyo after World War III and follows childhood friends Tetsuo and Kaneda as they encounter a military operation to retrieve an escaped experimental subject.

TOPIX has created a computer animated 10-second tag, entitled "Futbol," promoting the new Mennen roll-on deodorant. The spot features an animated Mennen Speed Stick expertly juggling a soccer ball. "After viewing a video of a soccer player bouncing a ball around, I thought it would be interesting to utilize the feeling of a handheld camera," said TOPIX animation director Chris Johnson.

Softimage has created advanced tools to support the creation of new titles for the Nintendo GameCube console. This is the result of a six-month collaborative effort by Nintendo and Softimage to define a suite of new features in the SOFTIMAGE|3D system that leverage the run-time capabilities of the Nintendo GameCube.

Swatch has announced the winner of the Swatchbeat 2 Flash Animation Competition on August 1. Hundreds of entries from around the world were submitted to a panel of Swiss judges and Internet audiences. The top prize was US$5000 dollars and a trip to the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland from August 9 -13. Each participant had to create a Flash animation no greater than 30 seconds on the theme of "Waiting for the Movies." The winning entry was by Frank Gapinski of www.flashtoonz.com in Australia. The toon features a movie-goer's struggle to get a comfortable seat at the movies.

DECODE has sold 26 episodes of its newest series, THE BLOBHEADS, to Nickelodeon and Frances Canal J. The series is scheduled to premiere in 2002. For Nickelodeon, this deal marks the first program pre-sale across multiple territories in the U.K., Europe and Australia. Co-produced by DECODE and C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures, the series is aimed at 8-12 year olds and mixes live-action human characters with CGI aliens.

Lorenzo Music, famous for providing his voice to Garfield, passed away on Saturday, August 4. He was 64 years old, and suffered from cancer. Music started in the entertainment industry as a writer on classic sitcoms like SMOTHERS BROTHERS COMEDY HOUR, THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW and THE BOB NEWHART SHOW. While working as a writer on RHODA, Music lent his voice talents as the unseen, perpetually intoxicated doorman, Carlton. He even went on to voice the pilot episode of the animated spin-off series CARLTON, YOUR DOORMAN, which failed to be picked up but won an Emmy for best animated special.

* Digital Medial World /London Effects & Animation Festival (LEAF): Tuesday, November 13 - Thursday, November 15, 2001, London, UK.

* Cartoombria 7th International Animation Exhibition: Wednesday, November 21 - Saturday, November 24, 2001, Perugia, Italy.

Cartoombria showcases animation from around the world, with a focus on digital and multimedia animation. The festival also holds special events highlighting international schools and training programs on computer animation, new media and Web animation. For more information, contact: Cartoombria, Via Bontempi, 25-06122 Perguia, Italy; Tel: ++39 075 572 67 64; Fax: ++39 075 572 67 68; Email: info@cartoombria.com; Web: www.awn.com/cartoombria.

Toon Boom Technologies has teamed with Electric Rain to extend its support for 3D animation. These new plug-ins will feature a special edition that outputs in the USAnimation format, allowing USAnimation users to import 3D animation created with 3D Studio MAX, LightWave or XSI into the 2D world. Electric Rain is a leading developer and supplier of 3D to vector solutions with Swift 3D MAX, Swift 3D LW and Swift 3D XSI. "Toon Boom is pleased to offer its customers the option to integrate 3D animation created with the leading 3D animation software.