AWN Headline News

MICHAEL PERIK, the Learning Company's chairman, and its president, KEVINO'LEARY, have moved on from MATTEL, INC. A search has begun for a newperson to helm Mattel Interactive, the division which includes all units ofthe Learning Company, Mattel Media and the company's Intel Play venture. Inrelated news, Mattel has said that FRANCESCA LUZURIAGA will be the newchief operating officer of Mattel Interactive, responsible for finance,information technology and new business development. In addition, the

J.J. SEDELMAIER PRODUCTIONS, with J.J. Sedelmaier serving as director, hasproduced a second Milton Bradley/Parker Brothers "Family Game Night"30-second spot. The commercial features classic board games like Monopoly,Clue, and Scrabble. This incarnation is entitled "Special Night" andfeatures the same child-like crayon style from the previous Milton Bradleyspot.

On November 11, 1999, the Hollywood Reporter reported that Columbiapictures has garnered the rights to Marvel Comics' DOCTOR STRANGE: MASTEROF THE MYSTIC ARTS. Don Murphy of Columbia-based Angry Films will producethe potentially live-action feature. The Strange flick joins SPIDER-MAN asthe second Marvel property in development at Columbia. Other comic-bookinspired project currently coming to life at Angry Films include ASTROBOYand PARASYTE.

In deal between Midway Games Inc. and shockwave.com, the companies willbring classic Midway arcade games to the Net. Using Shockmachine, a virtualdevice, players will be able to download, save and play full-screen,Shockwave versions of games like: Defender, Joust, Spy Hunter, Moon Patroland Marble Madness. The games will remain exclusively on shockwave.com forthree months then they will also be available on Midway's home site andother major Web sites. The partnership will allow each company to link to

Eidos Interactive, an interactive software company, will release their hitgame, LEGACY OF KAIN: SOUL REAVER, for Sega Dreamcast. The game wasreleased for PlayStation and PC in August and has appeared on the cover ofevery major U.S. electronic gaming industry magazine. "The ongoing successand industry praise for Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver coupled with theimpressive sales figures of Sega Dreamcast make this a great fit," said RobDyer, President, Eidos Interactive. The action adventure game allows

A sad cloud has eclipsed the world of animation since the passing ofbeloved voice-over actress, Mary Kay Bergman. She recently has provided thevoice for Daphne Blake in the two most recent Scooby-Doo direct-to-videoflicks; Batgirl/Barbara Gordon in "Batman: Subzero"; the "official" voicefor Disney's Snow White; and all but one of the female voices on ComedyCentral's "South Park." Many questions surrounding the details of herpassing have surfaced since fans have logged onto her Web site which only

Big news from the next-generation entertainment industry! AtomFilms hasacquired PixelWave, a leader in online content development andentertainment technologies. The acquisition has spurred AtomFilms to makeplans to form "Atom Studios," a next-generation entertainment studio. Thenew company will focus on the creation of new original Macromedia Flash andstreaming media animated series and integrating content in both onlineadvertising and sponsorship opportunities. "PixelWave delivers an important

Starting on Monday, November 15, 1999, Walt Disney Co. must stop using thegreen traffic light-type emblem for its Go.com Web sites. U.S. DistrictCourt Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr. ruled that the logo used by Disney is toosimilar to the one used by the GoTo.com search engine. In December 1997,GoTo.com began using the logo of a green circle on a yellow backgroundwith the letters "GoTo" in white. Almost two years later, Disney beganusing a logo of a green traffic light in a yellow case with "Go" written in

Will the power of Pokemon ever stop? U.S. fans of the animated seriesproved this weekend that they had to catch all of POKEMON: THE FIRST MOVIE.After setting the record for the biggest Wednesday opening of all time foran animated film, the Pikachu vehicle grossed an estimated $52.1 millionover a 5-day period, squishing the non-summer record of $45.7 million setby A BUG'S LIFE. The much anticipated new film from Kevin Smith, DOGMA,with visual effects by Station X Studios, bucked controversy and finished

Disney Interactive, ESPN andKonami have announced that they will produce a full line-up of ESPN sportstitles for video game consoles and personal computers. The multi-platformsports brand will combine the full power of ESPN, a leading provider ofsports programming, ESPN Magazine and ESPN.com, with Konami's expertise intechnology and game development. Approximately 10 titles are expected tolaunch in 2000. The first titles, MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL and NBA BASKETBALL,both for Sega Dreamcast, and MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER on Sony PlayStation, will

The Moondance International Film Festival has announced the finalists for its first competition, Moondance2000. The festival takes place in Boulder, Colorado, January 14-16, 2000 aspart of the Sundance Film Festival. Entries from female screenwriters andfilm-makers from any country were welcomed to the competition. For moreinformation e-mail: mermaid7cs@aol.com; or write: Moondance InternationalFilm Festival, 970 Ninth Street, Boulder, CO 80302, USA.

The following films are finalists in the animation film category:

Playmates Toys has acquired the licenseto create action figures based on the animated series THE SIMPSONS. Therewill be eight initial figures, including Homer, Bart, Lisa, Grandpa,Krusty, Mr. Burns, Moe, and Barney, which will all be part of the World OfSpringfield Intelli-Tronic line. Each figure will feature the voice of thecast member who plays the character on the show. There are also plans forthree dioramas, including The Simpsons' living room, Homer's work station