AWN Headline News

Riding the wave of the box office success of STUART LITTLE, Columbia/Sony

Pictures has announced a sequel to the tiny toon. Shooting on the new film

could start as soon as this summer. The intended release date for the flick

is Christmas 2001. Producer Doug Wick is set to return, however actors,

director and screenwriter have not yet been confirmed. Sony Picture

Imageworks, who comprised the effects for the first flick, are expected to

return on the sequel. The first STUART LITTLE was directed by Rob Minkoff,

Macromedia, Inc. announced its acquisition of Time4.com, a

Minneapolis-based Net application development firm. The privately-held

business, which created a Web-based reservation system, was acquired for an

undisclosed amount. Time4.com's president and chief executive officer

Douglas K. Olson will become vice president of engineering for the

Macromedia eBusiness Solutions Group. In his new role, Olson will lead the

development of Macromedia's eBusiness Infrastructure, one of the first

In association with Children's Television Workshop and IF/X Productions,

CineGroupe will be producing 40 half-hour episodes of SAGWA, THE CHINESE

SIAMESE CAT for PBS KIDS. The series is adapted from the award-winning

children's book by Amy Tan, author of THE JOY LUCK CLUB. SAGWA follows the

title character's escapades through Ancient China. Each episode will

include 11-minute segments and related interstitials woven together by

music, folk stories and fairy tales. The executive producers of the project

Vitoria, Spain-based Mb Producciones is reaping a huge success from its new

animated series MIMI AND MR. BOBO. Since its debut on TVE, the average

share the series has received is 25.8. The show airs Saturday at 9 am and

re-runs at 8:30 am on Sundays. Mb Producciones is currently in negotiation

to create merchandise for the program with several well-known Spanish toy

and book companies. The company is also in the developing stage of a

feature based on the characters of the MIMI AND MR. BOBO series.

Montreal-based CineGroupe and Saban International Paris will co-produce a

new half-hour series entitled WUNSCHPUNCH. The show will be based on the

novel by Michael Ende, whose previous novel, THE NEVER ENDING STORY was

made into a live-action feature. Radio Canada will broadcast the series in

Canada and TF1 will air it in France. Hubert Gariepy and Bruno Bianchi will

produce the series and Philippe Amador will direct.

TOPIX/MAD DOG clears the air for the newest Ricola ad. Produced for ad

agency, DKB & Partners, a 30-second spot entitled "Reflections" was created

to promote Ricola's new line of herbal health dietary supplements.

TOPIX/Mad Dog created the reflections of the Ricola Matterhorn on windows,

soap bubbles, sunglasses and cars. The spot was produced at TOPIX/Mad Dog

by Diana D'Amelio and the senior Flame artist was James Cooper.

Animation World Network is excited to announce that it has been acquired by

Creative Planet (www.creativeplanet.com), a network of business-to-business

Web sites for creative professionals. Dan Sarto, COO and co-founder of AWN

said, "This transaction will afford AWN the opportunity to continue its

aggressive growth strategy and sustained position as the leading Internet

site for the animation profession." AWN brings to Creative Planet its vast

On February 11, 2000, CBS will air a special celebrating the career of THE

PEANUTS creator Charles Schultz. The hour-long GOOD GRIEF, CHARLIE BROWN: A

TRIBUTE TO CHARLES SCHULTZ will be hosted by CBS' former news legend Walter

Cronkite. The special will feature clips from the PEANUTS series and

specials, plus an interview with Charles Schultz. The legendary comic strip

artist retired at the beginning of the year in order to concentrate on

beating his newly diagnosed cancer.

Designed for those who produce commercials, music videos, industrial

projects and similar broadcast pieces, 'Lifestyles - Mixed Cuts' is a stock

CD which is packed full of video clips of people. The royalty free

collection of video snippets includes the faces of adults and children,

plus a wide variety of situations including a birthday party, a mother and

daughter out for a walk, professionals in a board room and even a transient

walking along train tracks. The uses are endless. Commercials and music

Iowa State University's student television station is looking for animated

films of any kind under 7 minutes in length, for their animation

exposition. The winner will be broadcast locally in April of 2000 to an

audience of around 40-50,000 homes. In addition, animators that participate

will have their Web sites linked to from the station Web site. Submissions

can be on BetaSP, SVHS or VHS tapes. Since the animations will be broadcast

on TV, all submissions must meet FCC rules that include no nudity, graphic

RAINBOW STUDIOS, a digital media company, announced DAVID STIPES has joined

Rainbow Studios' management staff. Stipes role will be to direct and

motivate Rainbow's team of award-winning producers, designers and artists

in current and upcoming projects. Stipes comes to Rainbow from Paramount

Pictures where he served as visual effects supervisor. Stipes designed

visual effects and supervised on-set live-action, motion control, CGI and

digital compositing for STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE, STAR TREK: VOYAGER and