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Anime and manga distributor ADV Films has acquired the short anime film THE VOICES OF A DISTANT STAR and plans a DVD-only release for the title. Using a mix of traditional and computer animation, the film was written, directed, edited and animated by Makoto Shinkai using a Power Macintosh 7600/120 computer and several consumer and professional-level design and animation software programs. Shinkai recently won the award for "Most Valuable Newcomer" at the 2002 Tokyo Anime Fair.

Have you been waiting for a glimpse of Cartoon Network's brand-new HE-MAN series? Well, get yourself to Comic-Con this weekend and visit the Mattel booth #2942-2945 for a sneak-peek preview of the new Cartoon Network series, HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE from Mike Young Productions. Representatives from Cartoon Network, Mattel and Mike Young will be discussing the latest news about the property on Friday, August 2, 2002 from 1:00-2:00 pm in Room 6BCDEF. The series premieres with a 90-minute movie on Cartoon Network on Friday, August 16, 2002.

Leading compositing and visual effects software Shake 2.5 will be available for the first time for Mac OS X. Shake is high-performance compositing software designed for large format productions, and has been used on many high-profile feature films, including the past five winners of the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects: LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, GLADIATOR, THE MATRIX, WHAT DREAMS MAY COME and TITANIC. Shake 2.5 is scheduled to be available in August for Mac OS X, Linux, IRIX and Windows.

Vancouver, Canada's Pork and Beans Productions recently moved to a brand new 5000 square foot studio in the Yaletown district of Vancouver. The company is expanding to accommodate a growing staff as they prepare to start Flash animation production on the series YAKKITY YAK, in association with Studio B Productions. Distributed by MTV Networks International, YAKKITY YAK was created by Australian company Kapow Pictures and follows the life of a yak that longs for his big break into show business. It is scheduled to broadcast on Teletoon and Nickelodeon Australia in 2003.

The Intel Corporation has established the CAD (Computer Aided Design) 3D Working Group to define, develop and deploy a common format to represent 3D images on the Web. The working group is part of the Web3D Consortium, a forum for the creation of open standards for Web 3D specifications, and includes members from various segments of the 3D graphics industry, including CAD software vendors, CAD users and digital content creators.

Ken Olshansky has joined Scholastic Entertainment as the senior vice president of television programming. Formerly, Olshansky was senior vice president of creative affairs for TV-Loonland/Sunbow Entertainment, where he developed and produced GENERATION O for Kids WB!, THE CRAMP TWINS for Cartoon Network and DONNER for ABC Family. In his new position, Olshansky will oversee the development and production of various Scholastic Entertainment television projects, including international co-productions and the Soup2Nuts production group in Watertown, Massachusetts.

Portland,Oregon-based Happy Hour Entertainment has signed animation and comedydirector Mike Wellins for commercial representation. Wellins,formerly a commercial and entertainment director at Vinton Studios,brings many years of award-winning filmmaking experience to HappyHour Entertainment. While at Vinton Studios, Mike directed the AnnieAward-winning spot "Genie" for Mirinda Soda, and his commercial forthe Sony Playstation game LEGEND OF DRAGOON was voted Best Animated

Take-Two Interactive Software,Inc. has formed Gotham Games, a new entertainment software publishinglabel, launched to specifically focus on publishing contentaccessible to consumers of all ages. All of Take-Two's softwareproducts for the PlayStation game console will be published under theGotham brand, along with a selection of upcoming titles to bepublished across multiple platforms. The company has named Take-TwoVP of publishing and business development Jamie Leece to head Gotham

Animation and interactive entertainment company Unbound Studiosrecently took home the gold. The Gold Broadcast Design Award forEducational Websites, that is. Unbound won for Sesame Street's MUSICZONE Website, which combines animation, interactivity and structuredlearning of music for a pre-school audience. Using the charm andhumor of the Muppets, Unbound designed and worked closely witheducators to fashion an engaging site that combined Macromedia'sFlash and Director programs with Beatnik audio to create operas and

GOLDMEMBER, the third installment in the AUSTIN POWERS franchise, handily topped the box office this weekend with a whopping $71.4M debut. This gives the spy spoof $75M total (including Thursday's sneak preview gross) making it the highest July debut ever. The weekend's other new film, Disney's THE COUNTRY BEARS, based on the Disneyland theme park attraction, made a lackluster sixth place debut with $5.2M. This may not bode well for Disney's upcoming features based on theme rides The Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean.