AWN Headline News

BRB Internacional has signed a strategic deal with Queen Bee Interactive (QBI) to develop interactive programming for various platforms and digital broadcasts. BRB is an independent and privately owned Spanish animation company with 30 years experience in the audio-visual production, distribution and licensing sectors. QBI specializes in the production and development of interactive applications, projects and interactive TV programs. The company has previously collaborated with various international media outlets including AOL/TimeWarner.

Gullane Entertainment has named Bill Gross senior vice president, brand strategy. In this newly created position, Gross will oversee, expand and manage Gullane Entertainment's portfolio of global brands and will also oversee the development of new ones. Most recently, Gross was co-founder, president and CEO of Cartoon Pizza. On behalf of Cartoon Pizza, Gross initiated a distribution relationship for educational content with Sesame Workshop, as well as a relationship with Gullane Entertainment. Gross will be based in Gullane Entertainment's New York office.

Due to an unexpectedly strong box office performance, Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment has changed the DVD and VHS release date for Osamu Tezuka's METROPOLIS to April 23, 2002. The film was previously scheduled to debut on home video on March 12. METROPOLIS has earned $446,810 in five weeks of limited release. It is currently playing on 13 screens in the U.S. and over the weekend of February 22, 2002 grossed an average of $2,425 per screen.

MR. BEAN, the eccentric character created by writer/actor Rowan Atkinson, is set for his animated television debut, March 2, 2002 on UK channel ITV1 beginning at 5:50 pm. After previously bringing Bean to life in a live-action series and a feature film, Atkinson was closely involved with the animated version of his character as well. "As a live-action character, Mr. Bean always possessed a cartoon-like quality," said Atkinson, who was filmed for every episode of the series so animators could use his distinct movements when creating the animated MR. BEAN.

A Los Angeles, California-area Animation Production Company is looking for a PRODUCTION ASSISTANT . . . San Francisco, California's Cinema Dept. San Francisco State University is looking for an ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN ANIMATION . . . Atlanta, Georgia's Fathom Studios is looking for a LEAD ANIMATOR . . . Nottingham, Nottinghamshire's Free Radical Design is looking for a CHARACTER ANIMATOR . . . New Delhi, India's GameEDU is looking for an ANIMATION PROJECT LEADER and a GAME DEVELOPER . . . Lexington, Massachusetts' Helixe is looking for a 3D CHARACTER ANIMATOR . . .

The Toronto Animated Image Society (TAIS) welcomes Richard Williams, director of WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT, to Toronto for a special engagement. Williams has been in the animation business for more than 40 years and is the author of the recently published book THE ANIMATOR'S SURVIVAL KIT, an instructional book on the art of creating animation. In addition to the book signing, Williams will give a mini-masterclass, showing samples from his films and demonstrating animation principles. Wednesday, March 13, 2002, 6:30 pm. Bloor Cinema, 506 Bloor Street, Toronto, Canada.

Raven Moon Entertainment, Inc. is collaborating with Hacker-Rumsey Entertainment to develop and market a slate of three projects for television over the next two years. The first project on tap is a CG-animated kids' project called THE ICELY BROTHERS, a mix of live-action and animated characters. Hacker-Rumsey is completing the pilot and will begin domestic and international marketing in spring 2002.

San Francisco-based interactive 3D media provider Pulse has incorporated the ProductionSync and InstantSync technologies from Automatic Sync Technologies into their Pulse Animation Studio v. 5.03. ProductionSync is used in the Pulse Creator module as an off-line animation tool. Speech is converted into animation as a production step that an animator can then enhance with expressions, gestures and behaviors. InstantSync is used in the Pulse Player to animate a face in real-time in response to the speech, which can either be downloaded or streamed to the player via streaming audio.

David Stainton has been upped from his current position of executive vice president to president, Walt Disney Television Animation. Stainton's responsibilities include overseeing the day-to-day operations for the division's animated television series and specials, Disney video premieres and February theatrical features (sequels like RETURN TO NEVER LAND). He continues to report to Thomas Schumacher, head of Walt Disney Television Animation and Walt Disney Feature Animation, in his new position.

Three months after its North American debut, the Xbox video game system launched in Japan on February 22, 2002. Bill Gates was on hand to present the first Xbox sold, and many gamers camped out overnight in the Shibuya District of Tokyo to make sure they were among the first in the country to get their hands on a console. Xbox is now on sale at thousands of Japanese retail outlets, and 12 game titles are available including PROJECT GOTHAM RACING, TENKU, JET SET RADIO FUTURE and DEAD OR ALIVE 3. A total of 22 titles are scheduled to be available in Japan by the end of March.