AWN Headline News

Shockwave.com, a leading Internet entertainment destination, announced it has signed a deal with Joe Shields, the creative mind behind www.joecartoon.com. Shields is known for his popular Webisodes, including FROG BENDER 2000 (a.k.a. FROG IN A BLENDER) and MICRO-GERBIL 2001. Shields will produce 10 new original animated properties to debut exclusively on shockwave.com.

For the rest of March, the Sundance Channel will be showcasing the films of Faith Hubley, her late husband, John, and their daughter, Emily. Hubley films have won three Academy Awards, and numerous other film festivals. Sundance's "Spotlight on the Hubleys" highlights the family's short films such as PIGEON WITHIN and EVERYBODY RIDES THE CAROUSEL. Charles Silver, a curator in the film and video department of New York's Museum of Modern Art, said to CNN, "It is a well-deserved tribute.

Fox Family will be adding two new animated series to its 2000-01 daytime schedule. DA MOB follows the life of a wanna-be hip-hop band on their futile journey to fame and fortune. The series is being produced by Happy Life Entertainment. DETECTIVE CONAN will be the newest anime series to hit the channel. The show follows the adventures of top detective Shinichi Kudo, who has been accidentally transformed back into a child by his enemies. The series is being distributed in the States by TMS. Twenty-six episodes of each series has already been secured.

* Friday, April 21- Sunday, April 23, 2000. Utica, Illinois.

With live-action film ERIN BROCKOVICH "busting" into first, Buena Vista's MISSION TO MARS toppled to #2 at the U.S. box office. The space mish mesh, with primary special effects by ILM and Dream Quest Images, garnered another US$11.39 million blasting its total gross to $40.6 million. The new teen horror flick, FINAL DESTINATION, crash landed at #3. The New Line fright fest grossed $10.02 million in its first week in theatres.

Questions have been floating around for months on how the Academy will handle the curse-word laced best song nominee "Blame Canada" at the Oscar ceremony. Producers have added more interest to the issue by naming king of improv, Robin Williams, as the singer of the song from the censor-mocking, Canada-bashing comedy, SOUTH PARK: BIGGER, LONGER AND UNCUT. Whether "Blame Canada" song lyrics featuring the words "fuck," "fart" and "that bitch Anne Murray," will be bleeped or edited by network censors is still yet unknown.

SIMEX Digital Studios teamed up with DUCK SOUP STUDIOS to combine live-action with animation in the new Keebler Elves spot. Promoting Chips Deluxe Cookies, the commercial entitled "One Upsman Chip" pits various elves against each other in a bake-off. SimEx wove together the animation from director Sam Cornell with live-action cookies. Animation director Jean Perramon of SimEx helped add a 3D touch to the backgrounds of the spot. The commercial was produced by Carolyn Bates at Duck Soup and Christina Cox at SimEx. SimEx and Duck Soup created the spot for Chicago-based ad agency Leo Burnett.

Brian Miller has been named VP and general manager of the new Cartoon Network Studios in Burbank. Miller will oversee the studio's production department as well as the day-to-day operations. Formerly, Miller served as VP of production at Nickelodeon's Nicktoons Animation Studio, where he oversaw all production. Before moving to Nicktoons, Miller was VP of animation at Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, where he managed all domestic and overseas productions.

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.