AWN Headline News

In 44th place, a rerun made THE SIMPSONS' numbers slip, however it remained the top toon for the week with a 7.8 rating/11 share. KING OF THE HILL came in at #74, with a 5.7 rating/9 share. FUTURAMA rocketed in at 79th place, garnering a 4.8 rating/8 share. After high ratings in its debut on UPN, GARY & MIKE sunk to 108th place with a 1.6 rating/3 share. In a three-way tie for 111th, THE PJS scored a 1.5 rating/2 share for the WB. At #114, CELEBRITY DEATHMATCH drummed up the second lowest rating on UPN for the week a dismal 1.4 and 2 share.

Government officials in Australia are threatening a lawsuit against WebWank.net for posting a political satire Web game, which pokes fun at the country's treatment of its aboriginal people. Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Herron feels that the use of his likeness in the game, JOHN HERRON'S STOLEN CHILDREN GAME, is a defamation of character. In the game, players must capture all ten of John Herron's children then place them in non-white families.

Rumpus.com, a children's new media company, announced that Rick Mischel, former president and chief operating officer of Harvey Entertainment, will join the company as acting president. Mischel will forge new revenue streams for Rumpus in domestic and international television and home video markets. Mischel will continue his consulting duties at Harvey, and will serve in a non-exclusive capacity to Rumpus.

This past weekend at the U.S. box office the top three remained the same; SAVE THE LAST DANCE remained champ with CAST AWAY taking the second spot with a gross of US$11.15 million. The Tom Hanks-starrer, with primary visual effects by Sony Pictures Imageworks, has sailed in with $182 million to date. Repeating its turn in third, TRAFFIC raced in another $8.51 million. The drug war saga, with primary visual effects by Cinesite, has garnered $46.69 million thus far. In its U.S. wide release, Guy Ritchie's SNATCH scored a fourth place finish.

Visual spectacle was the top winner at this year's Golden Globe awards. DreamWorks' GLADIATOR took home the award for Best Drama and Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard took home the Best Original Score prize for their work on the Roman epic. The global sensation CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON racked up statuettes for Best Foreign Language Film and director Ang Lee took home an award for his direction. CHICKEN RUN couldn't repeat TOY STORY 2's win for Best Comedy or Muscial losing out to the rock 'n roll ode, ALMOST FAMOUS.

* Wednesday, February 28, 2001. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Animation historian Jerry Beck will be presenting a retrospective of animator Gene Deitch. The screening will scan Deitch's career from his innovative work at UPA to his independent work in Prague. For more information contact ASIFA-Hollywood at: 725 South Victory Blvd., Burbank, California 91502, U.S.A.; Tel.: (818) 842-8330; Fax: (818) 842-5645; E-mail: info@asifa-hollywood.org; or Web: www.asifa-hollywood.org.

AWN's Web Animation Guide is the place for what's new on the Net. In this week's installment new Webisodes of THE MULTIPATH ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN and THE CRITIC, the debut of John Ridley's THOSE WHO WALK IN DARKNESSS 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!"

The Disney Channel has announced that it will produce its first animated sitcom entitled THE PROUD FAMILY. The series will chronicle the experiences of a 14-year-old African-American girl named Penny and her family. Co-executive producer Bruce Smith (SPACE JAM) created the series. Ralph Farquhar, co-creator of the UPN live-action comedy MOESHA, will serve as the other executive producer. The voice cast will include Kyla Pratt (LOVE & BASKETBALL) as Penny, Paula Jai Parker (THE WAYANS BROS.) as Trudy Proud and Tommy Davidson (IN LIVING COLOR) as Oscar Proud.

Nickelodeon is set to premiere two new cartoon series, INVADER ZIM and THE FAIRLY ODDPARENTS, in March. Debuting on Friday, March 30 at 8:30 pm, THE FAIRLY ODDPARENTS follows the adventures of 10-year-old Timmy Turner (Tara Strong) and his newly arrived fairy godparents -- Cosmo (Daran Norris) and Wanda (Susan Blakeslee), who grant him wishes in an attempt to fix his problems. The series is created by OH YEAH! CARTOONS! veteran Butch Hartman.