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The Gnomon Workshop has released new titles in their training video series and cut prices on existing video titles. Video titles previously priced at US $69 are now US $59 and many of the Workshop's titles are available for purchase in discounted bundles. In addition, the Workshop is scheduled to release four new titles on April 30, 2002 in response to customer demand. "We've gotten so many requests for tapes on Character Skinning. It was time," said Alex Alvarez, director of the Gnomon Workshop, who also developed and teaches the material on the new videos.

With the largest April opening in history, THE SCORPION KING, with visual effects by Centropolis FX, topped the box office this weekend. Starring The Rock, this "prequel" to THE MUMMY franchise earned $36.2M in its debut. The weekend's other new release, MURDER BY NUMBERS, debuted in third with a tepid $9.5M while last week's number one film, CHANGING LANES, took second place with $11.2M and $32.8M to date. Disney's THE ROOKIE climbed a notch to fourth place with $6.3M and a four week total of $53.7M, while ICE AGE dropped two spots to land in sixth place with $5.7M and a cume of $159.5M.

This week's updates to the Calendar of Events include:

Dan McLaughlin & June Foray Headline Animation Panel: Wednesday, April 24, 2002, Hollywood, California USA . . . Lunch With Martha Sigall and Jerry Beck -- Warner Bros. Animation History: Saturday, April 27, 2002, Glendale, California USA . . . FMX/02: Thursday, May 23 - Sunday, May 26, 2002, Stuttgart, Baden-Wuerttemberg Germany . . . Richard Williams Master Class 2002: Tuesday, May 28 - Sunday, June 02, 2002, Ebeltoft, Denmark.

3D animator and visual effects artist Mark Glaser has launched Sway, a 3D animation and digital effects studio serving the commercial and film industries. A two-time Clio Award winner, Glaser was a former CG supervisor at Digital Domain and was co-founder and visual effects supervisor for Station X Studios. Glaser's specialties include photo-real rendering and 3D animation. His credits include spots for Dodge, Nike, Chevy, Sony and Duracell.

Canadian-based media and entertainment company Corus Entertainment Inc. announced that it has successfully completed the sale of Klutz to Scholastic Inc. Klutz was sold for approximately US$43 million in cash plus a three-year earn-out based on revenue. The proceeds of the sale will be used to repay debt. Corus acquired Klutz, a publisher of children's books and related products based in Palo Alto, California, through its acquisition of Nelvana Limited in November 2000. âº

NewKidCo International Inc. has entered into a worldwide multi-year agreement with Nickelodeon to publish video games based on the Nick Jr. show DORA THE EXPLORER. The agreement grants NewKidCo the rights to create interactive products for all leading video game systems. The series follows Dora, a young Latina who lives inside a computer and uses her knowledge of English and Spanish to communicate with her friends, overcome obstacles and reach her goals. The series currently airs 11 times a week, both on Nick Jr. and as part of CBS' weekend programming.

The March 2002 Acrobat issue of Animation World Magazine is now online! In this issue, Greg Singer takes an in-depth look at Weta, Ltd., and uncovers the secrets of the company behind the Academy Award-winning visual effects for THE LORD OF THE RINGS. John Edgar Park explains how to build your own animation workstation, and the best way to learn Maya at home. John C. Donkin, Blue Sky's associate producer, reminisces about the studio's transformation from small boutique to major feature film competitor with the production of ICE AGE.

Visit all of AWN's Discussion Forums to stay in touch with the animation community! This week, hot forum discussions include a "spirited" talk about SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON, animation production in HDTV and what's not hot in animation. Plus, a special forum edition of The Animation Pimp. Over in Show and Tell, check out Simeon Rex - The Monkey King, and some new Flash animation from slycoart and zodiacmedia, plus demo reels and portfolios posted by Forum users.

This week at MIP-TV, Gullane Entertainment announced that it has begun production on 78 new five-minute episodes of THOMAS & FRIENDS, augmenting the property's current library of 130 episodes. Produced at Shepperton Studios in England, the new episodes will begin airing in September 2002 on Nick Jr. in the UK. In the U.S., these episodes will be released direct-to-video by Anchor Bay Entertainment. The first U.S. release will be available September 24, 2002 on VHS and DVD.

Rhythm & Hues has made its first investment in motion capture technology -- a dedicated facial capture system from Vicon. Rhythm & Hues plans to use a multiple camera Vicon configuration to develop a facial capture pipeline that will support the creation and animation of CG characters for forthcoming projects. "We have already installed and used our new Vicon system for full-body capture tests with very good results," said Rhythm & Hues visual effects supervisor Bill Westenhofer.

Mike and Liz Young of Mike Young Productions (MYP) and Bill Schultz, former nine-year veteran executive vice president of Film Roman, have formalized their current working relationship by announcing the formation of a new partnership. "Although the name on the door says Mike Young Productions at the moment, the studio has for the past four years been the mind-meld of three experienced producers -- all of whom are passionate about the business and the art of animated programming," said Mike Young.

The National Network (TNN) has announced plans to launch an adult animation block of programming in the 2003 season. Headlining the block is GARY THE RAT, a half-hour original animated series starring Kelsey Grammer as the voice of the title character. Gary is a New York attorney who is so unscrupulous and immoral that he wakes up one morning to discover that he's turned into a rat. Rob and Mark Cullen are the writers and creators of the series and serve as co-executive producers, along with Grammer. The series is produced by Grammnet Productions.