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AWN Headline News

Animation Headline News

Imagina Makes Toy Story 2 Grand

Walt Disney and Pixar have yet another trophy on their mantle, this time

it's the grand prix at Imagina 2000. The computer conference and festival,

which started in Monaco on January 31 and then continued in Paris on

February 2, finishing Friday, February 4, is often referred to as the

European equivalent to SIGGRAPH. The events in Monaco included the "Prix

Pixel-INA" awards competition, the Innovation Space, and various

conferences and panel discussions such as "2D/3D Animation," a discussion

Television Headline News

Film Roman Rounds Out Roster

By Rick DeMott | Wednesday, February 2, 2000 at 12:00am

FILM ROMAN INC. has announced that veteran entertainment industry executive

LEONARD J. GROSSI has joined their board of directors and SIDNEY CLIFTON

has been promoted to director of television development. Currently, Grossi

is a partner in LSLG Associates, which owns a 49% interest in WHPN-TV, a

Madison, WS-based UPN affiliate. Grossi has recently formed and serves as

chairman and CEO of both Baseline Media and Entertainment Inc., a media,

communications and entertainment consulting firm, and Mile Square

Headline News

Pokemon Ball Kills Second Child

By Rick DeMott | Wednesday, February 2, 2000 at 12:00am

On Wednesday, December 26, 2000, a second child was reported to have

suffocated on Burger King's promotional POKEMON ball. The 4-month old,

Indianapolis, Indiana boy was found dead by his grandmother who left the

toy in the crib with the sleeping child. Millions of the toys were recalled

on December 11, 1999 after a Sonora, California girl was found in her

playpen with half the ball over her nose and mouth. U.S. federal officials

accused the Miami-based fast food chain of being too slow in recalling the

Million Headline News

Stuart Little Stays Steady At #4

By Rick DeMott | Wednesday, February 2, 2000 at 12:00am

The Super Bowl, American football's biggest game, kept people away from

U.S. theatres this past weekend, but STUART LITTLE, with primary visual

effects by Sony Pictures Imageworks, additional animation by CFX and Rhythm

& Hues, and miniatures by Thunderstone, stayed steady at 4th place in the

box office. Sony's great white hope (a white mouse that is) grossed US$4.78

million bringing its total to $123 million. THE GREEN MILE, with primary

Imax Headline News

Imax Delivers Simpsons In 3D

By Rick DeMott | Wednesday, February 2, 2000 at 12:00am

Imax has inked a deal with Fox, DreamWorks and Sony Pictures to deliver to

audiences 3D versions of THE SIMPSONS, Princess Bala from ANTZ and several

original animated characters. The Imax feature will be entitled CYBERWORLD

and will hit U.S. theatres in October. Produced by Hugh Murray and Steve

Hoban, the 45-minute pic will feature 3D clips from ANTZ and THE SIMPSONS

interwoven with Phig, the tour guide of this futuristic animation museum.

Show Headline News

Simpsons' Scandal Set For Sweeps

By Rick DeMott | Wednesday, February 2, 2000 at 12:00am

Fox has leaked the scoop that a central Simpsons character will be killed

off on the February 13 episode of the decade old toon. Rumors have been

circling that the grim reaper will be swinging his scythe at Maude

Flanders, wife of Jesus freak neighbor Ned. In a bold move of honesty THE

SIMPSONS' executive producer Mike Scully fully admits the show is a

shameless attempt at grabbing sweeps ratings. "We're in our 11th season and

we're always looking for new ways to shake up the show a little and do

Disney Headline News

Disney TV's Pioneer Webster Passes

By Rick DeMott | Wednesday, February 2, 2000 at 12:00am

Michael Webster, who established Walt Disney's television animation

division in 1984, passed away at the age 60 following a long battle with

multiple sclerosis. On Saturday, January 29, 2000, Mr. Webster succumbed to

complications from pneumonia at his home in Port Townsend, Washington,

U.S.A. During his 42 year tenure, Webster created the Walt Disney

Television Animation division and served as its senior VP until his

retirement in 1992. He oversaw production of the Emmy-winning NEW

Music Headline News

Nick's Net Nozzle Closes

By Rick DeMott | Wednesday, February 2, 2000 at 12:00am

Nickelodeon has recently closed the San Mateo branch of its on-line unit

announced Nick On-line Pres. Fred Seibert. The office had been doing

research and development for "Project Nozzle" -- a re-launch of Nick.com as

a children's Web portal. To help strengthen the re-launch Viacom, owners of

Nick, bought San Mateo-based Web development house Nvolve, which turned

into the now de-funked San Mateo branch of Nick.com. This decision comes on

the heals of the suspension of "Project Nozzle's" main component My

Headline News

Acclaim Acquires 2 New Staff

By Rick DeMott | Wednesday, February 2, 2000 at 12:00am

ACCLAIM ENTERTAINMENT INC., a leading worldwide interactive entertainment

company, has appointed JAY ANDRONACO as manager of public relations and

BRADFORD W. LOUCKS as vice president of sales. Andronaco will oversee

public relations initiatives for Acclaim's recently announced Extreme

Championship Wrestling (ECW) license, including the launch of the first

video game title on February 17, 2000, ECW HARDCORE REVOLUTION. In

addition, Andronaco will manage media relation initiatives for select

Mill Headline News

Mill Film's New Heads Of 3D

By Rick DeMott | Wednesday, February 2, 2000 at 12:00am

Mill Film announced that LAURENT HUGUENIOT and DAVID LOMAX have been

promoted to joint heads of Mill Film 3D. The promotion takes place with

immediate effect and follows on the heals of the recent announcement that

Mill Film will unite operations with sister company Magic Camera. Lomax

joined Mill Film in February 1997 from Pixar Animation Studios where he was

senior technical director for modeling and shader development on the

animated feature film, A BUGS LIFE. Since joining Mill Film, Lomax has

Animation Headline News

Funkmation Floats Into Brooklyn Navy Yard

Funkmation Studios, an animation house providing services for film,

television, CD-Rom and the Web, has floated into a new home in Brooklyn's

Navy Yard. The animation house will share the new space with New York

Studios' film and television sound stage. Funkmation's credits include:

SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH CD-Rom; storyboard and background design on

COURAGE THE COWARDLY DOG; Flash animation on Partner Re's screen savers;

and a 2D animation pilot with C&C Films entitled MAXIMUM BLACK. The new

Headline News

Letter Campaign To Honor Bergman At Oscars

Husband of the late Mary Kay Bergman, Dino Andrade, has put out a call to

SOUTH PARK and Mary Kay Bergman fans to write to the Academy of Motion

Picture Arts and Sciences in an effort to have Mrs. Bergman included in the

"In Memoriam" segment of the 2000 Oscar ceremony. Typically, the Academy

only honors higher profile talent who have passed away in the past year. As

reported [AF 11/23/99], Mrs. Bergman took her own life on November 11, 1999

Home Headline News

Home Movies On Cartoon Network

Tom Snyder Productions' HOME MOVIES has found a new home at Cartoon

Network. The Atlanta-based toon channel has ordered 13 episodes for 2000.

The order also includes five episodes, which originally aired on UPN last

spring and eight new episodes, to be produced beginning in February. HOME

MOVIES is about Brendon Small, a restless, creative third-grader, who uses

his video camera to deal with his problems. The cast includes Brendon

Small, Melissa Bardin Galsky and H. Jon Benjamin. The show is very funny as

Cartoon Headline News

Cartoon Campaign 2000

Cartoon Network's Cartoon Campaign 2000 is electing the next president from

a field of 50 cartoon candidates. Cartoon Network will provide the hopeful

candidates with free airtime from 7-9 p.m. each night between Sunday, March

5, and Thursday, March 9, 2000 when they will screen their own personal

cartoons for viewers. During each night's election coverage, viewers can

vote for their favorite characters via an 800-number that will appear on

Headline News

Brennan Breaths At Oxygen

The Emmy award-winning producer of THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, JUDE

BRENNAN, has joined the ever-expanding roster at OXYGEN MEDIA. Brennan will

occupy the newly created bi-coastal position of senior vice president of

programming. Brennan will helm the television programming schedule for the

network. The new Oxygen channel will launch nationwide on February 2, 2000.

For the last 20 years, Brennan has served as vice president of creative

Mattel Headline News

Stolar Shines As New Mattel Interactive Pres

BERNARD STOLAR was named president of MATTEL INTERACTIVE, the division that

includes The Learning Company and other software and high-tech products.

Stolar joins Mattel from Sega where he helped engineer the launch of the

Sega Dreamcast video game console in the United States. At Mattel, he will

try to mend the ailing Learning Company division, whose unexpected $105

million loss in the third quarter shocked investors and diminished Mattel's

Headline News

Olive Jar Opens Door To New Exec Rhodes

OLIVE JAR STUDIOS has opened their doors to a new executive in charge of

special venue and theme park productions, MARK RHODES. Rhodes will help the

company's new West Coast branch increase business in both long format

productions and theme park attraction work, as well as aid in the

commercial division. When at Universal, Rhodes supervised two separate

animation projects produced by Olive Jar for Universal Studios' new Islands

of Adventure theme park, which opened in Summer 1999. Rhodes' other

Headline News

Infogrames Inks 2 New Senior Managment Members

INFOGRAMES NORTH AMERICA, INC. announced that DEREK QUACKENBUSH and RON

RUDOLPH have joined the interactive company's senior management team.

Quackenbush takes on the role of CFO for Infogrames' North American

operations, while Rudolph will head human resources and administration as

the company's senior vice president of administration. For the past three

years, Quackenbush served as Sony's 989 Studios' director of finance and

administration. Prior to 989 Studios, he held various finance positions at

Headline News

Tim Burton To Stain Shockwave.com

Tim Burton, creator of NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, has inked a deal to

bring a series of animated shorts featuring his Stainboy character to

shockwave.com. Viewers will be able to download the charcoal-drawn

superhero's first five-minute short sometime in Spring 2000. Under the

terms of the deal, Burton will keep full artistic control over the

characters and properties. The William Morris Agency brokered the deal

which allows for the cross over to TV if the shorts become a hit on the

Short Headline News

Oscar's Animated Short List

AMPAS announced on Wednesday, January 26, 2000, its short list of ten films

to be considered for the coveted Oscar nomination for best animated short

film. Three to five of these films will be selected as nominees and

announced at 5:30 am PST on February 15, 2000. The 10 animated short films

making the list this year are: Aardman Animations' Peter Peaks' HUMDRUM;

Character Builders' Oscar Moore has two short listed films with THE

INDESCRIBABLE NTH and THE PHOX, THE BOX AND THE LOX, which screened earlier

Software Headline News

CHROME Imaging Releases Photonyx 1.5

A new Switzerland-based company, CHROME Imaging, recently announced their

solution to the wonderful world of post-production Photonyx 1.5 is now

shipping. CHROME claims that the software, which is priced at a mere

US$675, was designed to address the high-end post-production market. The

program features RealTools, a painting palette which simulates real world

tools such as crayons, airbrush and charcoal. But moving on to compositing,

Photonyx features "Virtual Screens" technology which offers realtime zoom

Effects Headline News

RE:Vision Effects Announced ReelSmart Motion Blur

RE:Vision Effects recently released ReelSmart Motion Blur, a plug-in for

After Effects 4.0, Commotion 2.0+ and Final Cut Pro. The plug-in is

designed to apply more natural looking motion blur to effects shots and

video sequences within After Effects. ReelSmart Motion Blur automatically

tracks every pixel in the shot which takes the handy-work out of the

process. Features include reduced strobing, fewer artifacts, and a tool

which lets one blur one image sequence using the motion of another

Disney Headline News

Disney's Go.com Goes In A New Direction

On Thursday, January 27, 2000, Disney announced their decision to change

the direction of their Go.com from an all purpose portal and search engine

like AOL.com, Lycos and Yahoo! to strictly an entertainment and leisure

destination. This announcement comes on the same day as The U.S. Court of

Appeals for the Ninth Circuit repealed the stay [AF 12/7/99] on a previous

injunction that bans the use of Go.com's green and yellow traffic light

logo. Disney was given the stay to allow them the chance to remove the logo

Films Headline News

A Closer Look: Zagreb's Studio gets into Distribution

For the first time, Zagreb studio's library was offered for international

distribution at NATPE a year ago. The library offered all of Zagreb's

award-winning short films, including the works of such masters as Zlatko

Grgic ("Devil's Work") and Dusan Vukotic (his short "Ersatz" was the first

non-U.S. animated film to receive an Academy Award). Since then, Rembrandt

Films and Image Entertainment have released on video five hours of

animation from Zagreb Film. This is just another distribution deal, and

Animation Headline News

Women In Animation Writers' Group

* Thursday, February 10, 2000. Westwood, California, U.S.A.

The Women In Animation Writers' Group will meet at Saban Entertainment at

7:30 pm. This month's topic is the animation premise and general animation

structure. The charge for the workshop is US$5. RSVP required. For more

information please contact Jean Ann Wright at: Tel.: (818) 360-8321 or

E-mail: jjwright@gte.net.

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