AWN Headline News

The 1999 ASIFA-East animation art fund raiser auction takes place onFriday, November 12, 1999. Films will be shown from Cartoon Network, KarenAqua, Nickelodeon's BLUE'S CLUES, Bill Plympton, J.J. SedelmaierProductions, Academy Award Winning Blue Sky Studios (BUNNY), and manyothers. After the films are shown, artwork or items relating to the filmswill be auctioned and all the money will go to benefit ASIFA-East, the EastCoast chapter of the international animation society. The auction takes

Toronto-based Canuck Creations Inc. is in the final stages of productionon THE PRODIGAL SON, a futuristic look at an ancient Bible story. Canuckproduced the short from conceptual design to final color, combining 2D and3D elements. The 24-minute film will be the main attraction for the youthpavilion at World Expo 2000, which will take place in Germany. Otherfeatures Canuck has worked on include THE STORY OF JOSEPH, the DreamWorksdirect-to-video sequel to the animated feature, THE PRINCE OF EGYPT,

Larry Shapiro, executive vice president of business development andoperations for Disney's Buena Vista Internet Group (BVIG), has beenappointed to the COPA Commission on Child Online Protection. COPA is taskedwith identifying and studying technological or other methods to reduce andrestrict access to harmful material for minors on the Internet. "Since itsinception with Disney Online, Buena Vista Internet Group has been committedto providing trusted environments and entertaining destinations online. We

Newly released Warner Bros.' THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, with visual effectsby Hollywood, California-based K.N.B. EFX Group, Inc., topped the USweekend boxoffice with an estimated $15.1 million. The film is a remake ofthe 1958 William Castle horror film that starred Vincent Price. BuenaVista's THE SIXTH SENSE, with visual effects by DreamQuest, finishedeighth, grossing an estimated $3.2 million for a total of $259.8 million;and the American version of Hayao Miyazaki's PRINCESS MONONOKE, which is

Buena Vista Home Video is releasing new videos featuring Goofy, Winnie thePooh, Belle, and Inspector Gadget early next year. WINNIE THE POOH, AVALENTINE FOR YOU! is due January 11, 2000 on VHS for US$14.99. In thevideo, which premiered last year as a television special, Pooh and hisfriends are afraid that Christopher Robin has been bitten by a Smitten whenhe becomes interested in a girl. They search the Hundred Acre Wood for thelove bug, hoping it will bite him again and cure his lovesickness. BELLE'S

Simon & Schuster Interactive has released a MISS SPIDER'S TEA PARTY CD-ROM.Based on the best-selling MISS SPIDER'S TEA PARTY children's books by DavidKirk, the CD-ROM recreates the spectacular, colorful imagery that hasthrilled children and critics alike. The CD-ROM allows children to assistMiss Spider in throwing a tea party through eight fun games that providevaluable learning experiences. The activities are designed to help kidsincrease color, sound, and shape identification, enhance coordination and

The Animation Writers Caucus of the Writers Guild of America, a group ofanimation writers represented by The Writers Guild, presented its SecondAnnual Animation Writing Award to Paul Dini at its annual meeting onWednesday, October 20. Dini is currently writing and producing BATMANBEY0ND for the Kids WB Network. "He's a very talented writer who has alwaysturned out interesting, exciting material," said Craig Miller, the Caucuschair. "His work on BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES and BATMAN BEYOND has

Shepperton, England-based The Magic Camera Company has produced 92 digitaleffect shots for the 19th James Bond film, THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH. One ofthe effects sequences done by Magic involves Bond (Pierce Brosnan) andChristmas (Denise Richards) hurtling through miles of unused oil pipelineon board a service Rpig' (a trolley-like vehicle used to safety check theinside of the pipeline) while chasing another one. Shooting the tunnel as aminiature was not a viable option, so Magic Camera was given the task of

Improv Technologies, Inc., a New York-based software development company,announced that their flagship product, Orchestrate3D, will be shipping inMarch 2000. A beta version of the tool, which is designed to improvework-flow by allowing artists to reuse animated content to 'orchestrate'new animations, will be available in December. The initial release is beingdeveloped for Maya, 3D Studio MAX, and SOFTIMAGE|3D only, and will besolely available for Windows NT. However an IRIX version is planned for

Viacom's MTV Networks Online has announced the formation of NickelodeonOnline, a new Internet-only company that combines several already existingNickelodeon Web sites, as well as some new sites. Leading the new companyis Nickelodeon veteran Taran Swan, who has been named senior-vice presidentof the new company. Swan will report directly to Fred Seibert, president ofMTV Networks Online and Chairman of Nickelodeon Online. Prior toNickelodeon Online, Swan was the General Manager for Nickelodeon Latin

Dream Quest Images, the visual effects division of The Walt Disney Companysince 1996, will join creative forces with Disney's in-house FeatureAnimation computer graphics unit to form a new entity called The Secret Lab(TSL). The Secret Lab, which will be based at Feature Animation's Northsidefacility in Burbank, California, will provide state-of-the-art CGIcharacter animation and visual effects for a variety of the Studio'slive-action projects in addition to producing computer-animated features.