Nickelodeon has named Michele Moore as the new VP of communications. Formerly, Moore served as director of media relations at interactive TV company Wink Communications. Moore will work out of Nick's New York office. She will oversee the development and promotion of publicity for Nick's TV division and its off-channel businesses, including public affairs, consumer products, recreation and magazines.
LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC announced it has teamed with Verant Interactive Inc. and Sony On-line Entertainment to create the first massive multi-player STAR WARS on-line role-playing game. Gameplay will jettison players into a unique combination of combat, specialized missions and daring quests. The STAR WARS on-line game will be developed by Verant, distributed and sold at retail stores by LucasArts, and available for play exclusively on-line at The Station@sony.com. This alliance partners together three of the foremost companies in the interactive entertainment industry.
Manga Entertainment has announced the launch of the official X Web site. X is the latest anime hit from Japan to be released in U.S. theatres. The supernatural thriller was designed by the all-female studio, Clamp. The film is directed by Rintaro, who has been working in anime for over 30 years and is best known in the U.S. for directing the TV series KIMBA THE WHITE LION and ASTRO BOY. The site will feature a live streaming video trailer courtesy of sputnik7.com for both Real Player and Windows Media Player and an official movie poster giveaway to the first 100 entrants.
MIXME NETWORKS, INC., a developer of media technologies supporting dynamic, interactive e-marketing tools and interactive greetings, announced the appointment of RUSSELL T. GILLAM as the company's new CEO. Gillam is an Internet pioneer coming to MixMe Networks, Inc. from Disney Direct where he served as senior VP of commerce. Gillam was responsible for all the Internet initiatives of Disney properties. There he led a staff of over 1,000 people across the e-commerce units including Disney, ABC, ESPN and Go.com.
Sweden-based animation studio Filmtecknarna F. Animation has produced eleven 30-second, 2D animated spots for Oxygen Media entitled "Mom's On-line." The commercials are based on actual advice on childcare that mothers have posted on the Oxygen Web site. Commissioned by Oxygen Media's Bee Murphy, the spots were directed by Jonas Odell and produced by Leila El-Zein. Filmtecknarna produces commercials for the international market, as well as short films and TV series. Their spot for the British beer "Boddingtons" is currently nominated in the British Animation Awards.
If you're looking to hire the top animation talent available, post
your job openings on AWN absolutely free...
J.J. Sedelmaier Productions has created the new opening for Comedy Central's second season of STRANGERS WITH CANDY. The opening, produced by J.J. Sedelmaier and directed by Ward Sutton, sums up the premise of the live-action series in 30 seconds. It follows the crazy life of series star Jerri Blank (Amy Sedaris) after she drops out of high school. Ward Sutton's heavy line and bright colors warps an animated Blank through a whirlwind ride of sex, drugs and prostitution that leads back to high school 30 years later. The lead animator on the project was Tony Eastman.
Palo Alto, California-based Pacific Data Images is looking for SENIOR
CHARACTER ANIMATORS. . . Neoglyphix, a pre-IPO Internet entertainment
channel, has an opening for an ANIMATION DIRECTOR who will supervise
all artwork for production of the company's animated Webisodes. . .
Colorado Springs-based Visual Approach is looking for 3D CHARACTER
ANIMATORS for the production of a 3D animated kids series. . .
Hollywood Digital Visual Effects is seeking junior and senior 3D
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts have announced their nominees for the 2000 BAFTA Awards. The British Academy has one prize for animation in the Best Short category.
Be a part of Playboy's rich heritage of cartoon humor. Participate in
Playboy's Comix and Animation Contest. All multimedia formats
welcome: Shockwave, Flash, videotape, pen and ink and more! The grand
prize winner receives $25,000. Five honorable mentions will also be
selected. Judges include Scott Adams, Award winning creator of
"Dilbert," and Kevin Smith, writer/director of hit films "Chasing
Amy" and "Dogma." The deadline for submission is April 1, 2000. As
SOFTIMAGE, the producers of popular 3D tool SOFTIMAGE|3D, announced that their eagerly anticipated next-generation 3D system code-named Sumatra has been given a name. Sumatra is to be released simply as SOFTIMAGE|XSI - a very humble and straight-forward name, but an effective one all the same. Why SOFTIMAGE|XSI? Unfortunately there's no funny story as to why SOFTIMAGE chose this name, it is simply the file extension of SOFTIMAGE's interactive media format.
Sunday, March 26th will be the Big Night, the 72nd Academy Awards,
presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
Check out the latest "behind the scenes" features and tutorials from
Visual Magic Magazine...
Plympton's new series of comics extracted from the comic book,
"Sleazy Cartoons of Bill Plympton," is for ADULTS ONLY...
Test your skills and challenge your brain with AWN's Animation Trivia
Quiz...
The Brussels Cartoon and Animated Film Festival has announced their
winners. This year's jury consisted of Canal +'s Servane Calmant,
director Catherine Montondo, RTBF journalist Hugues Dayez, Plateau
journalist Luc Joris and producer Steve Walsh. The prize winners at
this year's festival are: French Community Grand Prize: "Bzz" by
Benoît Feroumont; Flemish Community Grand Prize: "Suburbanites" by
Stefan Vermeulen; Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques
The king of family film remakes Eddie Murphy will star in the newest redux of THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN. Set to direct the film is TOMMY BOY helmer Peter Segal. Fred Wolf, a former writer on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, has penned the new version of the film that follows the trials and tribulations of a man shrunk to the size of a mouse by a strange mist.
Curious Pictures has finished production on AVENUE AMY for the fledgling cable network, Oxygen Media. The series is directed by Curious Pictures' Joan Raspo and written by Amy Sohn, based off of her New York Press column. The new show will air on "X-Chromosome," an original showcase of animation done by women. The show sets brightly colored, rotoscoped actors against live-action photo collage backgrounds in a satirical look at daily life of a woman living in New York. The animated block airs on Oxygen Saturdays and Sundays at 10:30 pm.
The new UPN clay animated series HORMONE HIGH has added more names to its lengthy voice cast. Recently joining the pilots' cast are Jerry O'Connell (MISSION TO MARS, SLIDERS), John Cryer (GETTING PERSONAL), Adam Goldberg (SAVING PRIVATE RYAN) and Jennifer Tilly (BOUND, BRIDE OF CHUCKY). The half-hour comedy is being directed by CELEBRITY DEATHMATCH creator Eric Fogel. Other talent on the voice-over cast are PUNKY BREWSTER child-star Soleil Moon Frye, FRAISER's Harriet Sansom Harris, SPARKS' Arif Kinchen and BAKERSFIELD, P.D.'s Brian Doyle-Murray.
The Aides of March have changed to the Idiots of March at Cartoon Network. On March 15, 2000, Cartoon Network will feature a mini-marathon of I AM WEASEL. The series follows the exploits of the super-smart weasel, I.M. Weasel, and his blunder-prone baboon nemesis I.R. Baboon. The COW AND CHICKEN spin-off's marathon will air from 7 pm - 10 pm.
Microsoft announced on Friday, March 10, 2000, that it will create its own video-game unit entitled X-Box. The high-end console will be in direct competition with Sony's PlayStation 2 and Sega's Dreamcast. "We want X-Box to be the platform of choice for the best and most creative game developers in the world," said Microsoft chairman Bill Gate at the Game Developers Conference in San Jose. Intended to be a hybrid of the personal computer and traditional gaming console, the new system is expected to hit stores sometime in 2001.
Sony Corp. shares took a gouge on Friday, March 10, 2000 after the company reported it was investigating customer complaints about a glitch in their new PlayStation 2 gaming system. A spokesman for Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), Sony's game unit, said it was looking into problems associated with the new console's playing of DVDs. The company's shares fell 6.41% to end at ¥26,300 (US$249), extending a seven straight day losing streak that has brought a 22% price drop in the stock.
The 4th edition of Cartoons On The Bay, the International Festival of
Television Animation, will be held in Positano (Amalfi Coast), Italy,
April 14-18, 2000. Cartoons on the Bay is the only festival in the
world solely dedicated to television animation. Promoted by Rai
Radiotelevisione Italiana and conceived and organized by Rai Trade,
the festival is an international event with awards, workshops,
lectures and events centering on the ever-changing world of
The Brussels Cartoon and Animated Film Festival has announced their winners. Each year the festival programs the "crème de la crème" in international animation and serves as one of the top festivals on the international cartoon and computer generated images circuit. This year's jury consisted of Canal +'s Servane Calmant, director Catherine Montondo, "RTBF" journalist Hugues Dayez, "Plateau" journalist Luc Joris and producer Steve Walsh. Brussels nominates four films for the prestigious Cartoon d'Or, the winner of which will be announced in September.
The Tampere International Short Film Festival in Finland has always been a place for animation. This year was no exception. Animation is an integral part of the programme. The Tampere Festival, which celebrated its 30th edition March 8-12, 2000, is often regarded as one of the major short film festivals in Europe, even in the world. However, among the general short film festivals it has the clearest emphasis on animation. The festival enjoyed beautiful weather; the sun shone and the ground was completely covered with soft white snow.
