LucasFilm and 20th Century Foxs visual effects-driven STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE took in $61.8 million gross over the three-day weekend. Its five-day total of $102.7 million since its Wednesday debut broke the previous five-day record of $92.7 million set in 1997 by THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK, but its three-day weekend gross failed to challenge the $72.1 million record still held by THE LOST WORLD.
*Wednesday, May 19th - Friday, May 21st. Los Angeles, California, USA.
Highlights of the 1999 Conference and Film Festival of the Large FormatCinema Association include a tribute to large format film pioneer LesterNovros, the Large Format Film Festival, Large Format animated films, paneldiscussions about theater operations and industry business, sessionsexploring production and post production technology, and a screening ofLAWRENCE OF ARABIA. For more information contact LFCA at (310) 823-4901.
Two years of our Desert Island series and over 60 new articles and affiliate web site links have been added to the Student Corner this week...
This week's update to the Calendar of Events includes six new animation-related affairs...
This week's comic is about the circle of life -- through hair growth!
This week's special features in AWN's ever expanding store: Sally Cruikshank's long awaited video "Face Like A Frog"...
This issue #40 is Animato!'s special 15th Anniversary issue with 144 boundpages. Featured articles include: Gerry Anderson, The McKimson Brothers,Cartoon Network, Warner Bros., Jay Ward Voices, Flip the Frog, Bartlett,Rose, Quakenbush, Fogel, Simensky, Tartakovsky, McCracken, Mulan, a hugeAnime section and more. There's just too much to list everything! Orderyour copy in AWN's Newsstand, where you can subscribe to your favoriteanimation publications directly from the Internet 24 hours a day! Already
NELVANA LIMITED, Canada's largest animation studio and internationalproducer of quality programming, has exciting opportunities in their 3-Ddivision. They are currently looking to fill the following positions:TECHNICAL DIRECTOR (5 positions) with experience using Maya, Wavefront orSoftimage and proficiency in Unix and Unix scripting; CG MODELER (3positions) with proficiency in Nurbs and polygonal modeling using Maya,Wavefront or Softimage with previous animation production experience.
The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is looking forpart-time ANIMATION INSTRUCTORS to teach both computer and traditional studio animation courses...
Artist, painter, sculptor, writer, photographer, designer and director,this prolific Polish creator has authored more than thirty short films...
As expected, STAR WARS: EPISODE 1 - THE PHANTOM MENACE set a record forsingle day gross on Wednesday with $28.5 million, breaking the previousrecord of $26.1 million set by THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK in 1997 on theSunday during the three day Memorial Day weekend. The previous record for aWednesday opening was $17.4 million, set by INDEPENDENCE DAY in July 1996.Despite reaching a new record, the film failed to fulfill early predictionswhich were in the range of $30 to $40 million and were based on early
Each year, Annie Award trophies are awarded for the year's best featurefilm, video, television program, commercial, and animated interactiveproduction, as well as individual achievement by artists, writers and voicetalent. The most prestigious awards given at the annual award ceremoniesare the June Foray award, presented for special service to the artform, andthe Winsor McCay award for a lifetime of achievement in animation. The 27thAnnual Annie Awards ceremony will take place Saturday, November 6, 1999 at
TRON, Disney's innovative computer-animated feature, is set to return to the big screen for a special one-week limited engagement (May 14-20) at the Disney-owned Pacific El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California, USA with a new 70mm print. A special panel discussion on May 14 and 15 will feature several filmmakers involved with the 1982 production including director Steven Lisberger, visual effects supervisors Harrison Ellenshaw and Richard Taylor, and computer-image choreographer Bill Kroyer (who went on to direct TECHNOLOGICAL THREAT and FERNGULLY: THE LAST RAINFOREST).
Retired Los Angeles County Superior Court judge Paul Breckenridge has ruledthat Jeffrey Katzenberg, the former head of Disney's film unit, did notforfeit a lucrative bonus when he left the company in 1994 and is entitledto interest on any money he is owed. Judge Paul Breckenridge issued hisdecision Wednesday and will next hear testimony to determine exactly howmuch money Disney should pay. Katzenberg, who left Disney in 1994 after hewas denied a promotion, is suing Disney for what he says is at least $250
Elfriede Fischinger died quietly in her sleep at her home on Thursday, May13, 1999. She was born September 17, 1910, in Gelnhausen near Frankfurt,Germany. She attended the prestigious College of Design in Offenbach, andin 1931 one of her abstract textile designs won a prize and was publishedin a magazine as well as exhibited in Berlin, where she met her futurehusband, animator and painter Oskar Fischinger. They were married in 1933and she worked on many of his subsequent films. In 1936 they emigrated to
On Friday, May 14, the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS),created to advance and recognize outstanding achievement in the interactivearts, announced the recipients of its second annual Interactive AchievementAwards. The awards were presented at an event held May 13 at the VarietyArts Theater during the Electronic Entertainment Exposition in Los Angeles.ZELDA: OCARINA OF TIME (Nintendo of America/Nintendo Co. Ltd.) won sixawards including Interactive Title of the Year, Adventure Game of the Year,
The EUROGRAPHICS Symposium on Visualization takes place Wednesday, May 26 -Friday, May 28. Vienna, Austria. It will feature research papers about allareas of visualization that will present original scientific ideas orsignificant improvements to existing techniques, as well as case studies onthe successful application of visualization methods to special problems.Contact info: Eduard Groeller, VisSym '99 Institute of Computer Graphics,Vienna Univ. of Technology, Karlsplatz 13/186/2, A-1040 Wien, Austria.E-mail: vissym99@cg.tuwien.ac.at.
*Tuesday, May 18th, 12 - 6 pm. New York, New York, USA.
Works by graduating seniors of the film, video, and animation departmentsof The School of Visual Arts will be shown at the Loews Cineplex WorldwideCinemas (50th Street and 8th Avenue). A reception and awards ceremonyfollows the screenings, beginning at 7 pm.
TWEETY: TWEET & LOVELY gives US fans of the lovable little canary and hisalways-hungry pursuer, Sylvester, 10 of their funniest Warner cartoons.Included are "Red Riding Hoodwinked," "Fowl Weather," "A Pizza Tweety Pie,""Tugboat Granny," "Rebel Without Claws", "Tweety's Circus", "Greedy forTweety", "Hawaiian Aye Aye", "Tweet and Lovely", and "Catty Cornered". 66min. Warner Home Video. US street date: June 22. $14.95. TWEETY: HOME TWEETHOME includes ten more cartoons featuring Tweety and Sylvester. "Birds
Cartoon Network's 7th annual 48 hour Bugs Bunny cartoon marathon, JUNEBUGS, will take place Friday, June 4, 9 pm - Sunday, June 6, 9 pm. Thefollowing films, some of which will be shown in more than one theme block,are scheduled:
Evolution of Bugs - Friday, 9 pm; Saturday, 6 pm; Sunday, 1 pm.Porky's Hare Hunt, Prest-o-Change-o, Hare-Um Scare-Um, Elmer's CandidCamera, A Wild Hare, Elmer's Pet Rabbit.
Musical Bugs - Friday, 10 pm; Saturday, 7 pm; Sunday, 11 am.
A release date for Aardman Animations/DreamWorks' eagerly awaitedstop-motion feature, CHICKEN RUN, has been announced for June 23, 2000 inthe US. Fifteen minutes of completed footage were recently shown toenthusiastic Aardman employees in England. The film is being directed byAardman co-founder Peter Lord and Nick Park (The Wrong Trousers, CreatureComforts), and is described as The Great Escape with chickens. DreamWorksSKG will distribute the film in the U.S. and most international territories
Animation company Film Roman has announced that due to productiondifferences Fox will take over production responsibilities on June 1 forFamily Guy, which is currently in production on its second season. Theprimetime show Family Guy airs at 8:30 pm on Sunday in the coveted spotafter The Simpsons and has been a hit with biting, racy humor. While Foxspokespeople say that it will be handled "in-house," a specific division orFox-owned company has yet to be named. Film Roman, which produced 15
In its second week of release, THE MUMMY, Universal Studios' CGI-laced revival of its mummy series remained on top in the weekend US box-office charts, grossing $25.1 million to bring its total to $80.8 million. The primary digital effects for THE MUMMY were created by Industrial Light & Magic. THE MATRIX, another effects driven action film, continues to do well, finishing third and taking in $4.5 million to bring its total gross to $145.1 million.
The School of Visual Arts in New York City will offer a course for credit on "Japanese Animation: History and Style" as part of its Continuing Education program. Instructor Brian Camp, author of several articles about anime, will focus on the recent history and stylistic development of anime, from the pioneering work of Osamu Tezuka in the '60s, to the epic space sagas of the '70s, to the visionary achievements of a host of innovative animators in the '80s and '90s.
Arts Unlimited, a 5-week summer program for children in grades 4-8, has added three animation classes to its arts curriculum. The classes will be taught by Wendy Jackson and will introduce animation techniques such as zoetropes, flipbooks, clay, cut-outs, drawing on film, and pixilation. Jackson will also teach a classin giant puppetry. Additional program offerings include ceramics,calligraphy, computer art, dance, mixed media, music, publishing, and
