AWN Headline News

Fox Network preempted its regularly scheduled Sunday night block of animated comedies to air the television premiere of Star Wars: Episode One "The Phantom Menace." The move paid off for the network, with Episode One landing in 17th place for the week, drawing a 9.8 rating/15 share, which translates into over 10 million viewers. Holiday favorite Rudolph The Red-nosed Reindeer aired on CBS on Saturday night at 8 pm and garnered a 6.5 rating/12 share for 43rd place. The U.S.

Three games from the Walt Disney Internet Group are now available to users of the Sprint PCS Wireless Web including a game based on the current Disney/Pixar blockbuster film Monsters, Inc. and a game based on Disney's animated film Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

Limited quantities of FINAL FANTASY X for the PlayStation 2 will start shipping to retail stores in the U.S. on December 26, 2001, instead of the originally scheduled January 2002. The game was released in Japan on July 19, 2001 and sold through 90% of the 2.14 million units it shipped in the first four days. To date, the FINAL FANTASY series has sold over 35 million units worldwide, making the franchise one of the best-selling series in the history of videogames. In FINAL FANTASY X, the main character, Tidus, is a star player of blitzball, a full contact sport.

Award-winning director Alexander Petrov and Pascal Blais Productions (PPB) have brought the Coca-Cola Santa Claus character to life in a 30-second spot for Coca-Cola and agency McCann Erickson titled "Classic-Sundblom." The well-known Haddon Sundblom illustration of Santa has been an icon of the Coca-Cola company for 70 years, but this is the first time the character has been animated.

McFarlane Toys has acquired its third major sports license this year, this time to create McFarlane's Sports Picks: NBA Basketball collectible figures officially licensed by the National Basketball Association. McFarlane Toys, known for its ability to craft facial likenesses, hopes to bring a new level of detail to the figures representing some of the NBA's leading players. Each action figure will feature official team logos and colors, and come with authentic game apparel specific to that player. Additionally, each player will be sculpted in an action pose.

Pepper's Ghost Productions (PGP) has inked an agreement with Cambridge Animation Systems whereby Cambridge will be the exclusive worldwide distributor for PGP's production management software tool, PG Studio. PG Studio was developed by PGP to manage all facets of production for its 3D CGI properties. The software was an integral part of the award-winning television series, TINY PLANETS, which was co-produced with Sesame Workshop, and is already on air in Australia, sold to territories throughout the world, and with a U.K. version to be seen on CiTV in the spring of 2002.

Vancouver animation house Delaney & Friends Productions has created a new animated Christmas special titled THE LEGEND OF THE CANDY CANE, based on the book of the same name. The one hour direct-to-video movie was produced with Mainstreet Entertainment and Dean River Productions for Zondervan Publishing, a subsidiary of Harper Collins. It will air this Thanksgiving (November 22) on the PAX network in the U.S. THE LEGEND OF THE CANDY CANE is the first of a series of specials based on the Zondervan Publishing library "Legend of" series.

Exluna is currently beta testing Entropy 3.1, the first major upgrade for Exluna's groundbreaking new rendering system. The release, available in January 2002, will include a number of improvements such as a plug-in that integrates Entropy directly with Discreet's 3ds max and 3D Studio VIZ software, allowing advanced programmable shading and lighting, in addition to 3ds max network rendering.

Giant Studios, the motion-capture technology and R&D provider for the LORD OF THE RINGS (LOTR) Trilogy has posted a behind-the-scenes movie produced by Weta (the primary visual effects company for LOTR) on the Giant Studios Website. The short film showcases some of the innovative motion-capture production techniques and technology developed for LOTR. In the clip, director Peter Jackson blocks scenes and places actors using Giants proprietary technology allowing Jackson to see the digital characters move through virtual sets and pre-visualize the shots.

As if talking on a mobile phone in public wasnt bad enough, Dutchbased ExtraTainment has developed four games to be played exclusively on mobile phones. MOBILE WORLD CUP allows the player to lead their own soccer team to the World Cup finals, ANDROID BATTLE puts the player in the midst of a hi-tech interplanetary struggle, THE BOOZE CONNECTION is set in the gangland of 1930s Chicago, while CHALLENGE OF THE KNIGHTS takes you back to the Dark Ages for a tournament in the king's court. All games have been designed for multi-player use, meaning contestants can play against each other.

The Art Institutes International at San Francisco is looking for an ANIMATION INSTRUCTOR, a BACKGROUND DESIGN AND LAYOUT INSTRUCTOR and a SURVEY OF MEDIA DESIGN & GAME LAYOUT INSTRUCTOR . . . Vancouver, BC's Arts Umbrella is looking for a DIGITAL ANIMATION INSTRUCTOR . . . Islington, London's Blue Sunflower Animation is looking for an AGENT . . . Swindon, Wiltshire's Celmation is looking for a 2D ANIMATOR . . . HoChiMinh City, Vietnam's Demen Animation Studio is looking for an ANIMATION AGENT . . . Redwood City, California's Electronic Arts is looking for a MAYA CHARACTER ANIMATOR . . .