AWN Headline News

Boston-based Olive Jar Studios, Inc., an animation, special effects andtheme park attraction production house, has opened a branch in Los Angeles,California, U.S.A. The new west coast facility will house both stage andproduction space. Olive Jar specializes in film techniques that includemixed-media, stop-motion, CGI, cel, drawn, and live-action/special effects.Executive producer Matthew Charde said, "Our presence in Los Angeles willbe a tremendous asset to the business since we will be more fully able to

Liquid Light Studios of Los Angeles helped give birth to Valencia,California's theme park Six Flags Magic Mountain's new roller coaster --"The Goliath." Liquid Light created a 3D simulation of the ride, so execscould take in the thrills before tracks were even laid. Last year, theanimation studio completed a similar 3D simulation for the park's"Riddler's Revenge." Built around an "Indiana Jones," jungle theme, themain highlights of this new coaster is that it travels up to speeds of 85

Six films from Czech puppet master, Jiri Trnka, will be available on a newcompilation DVD available February 29, 2000. Included on the release willbe the feature-length classic THE EMPEROR'S NIGHTINGALE based on the HansChristian Anderson fairy tale and narrated by legendary-Hollywood actorBoris Karloff. The five featured shorts will include Trnka's world famousTHE HAND, along with STORY OF THE BASS CELLO, A MERRY CIRCUS, A DROP TOOMUCH, and THE SONG OF THE PRAIRIE. Not to sound too much like a late-night

Sony Wonder and Golden Books Family Entertainment Home Video will bring thebeloved children's holiday film, RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER, to DVD forthe first time. The adventures of the shunned reindeer will be available forUS$19.98. For the holidays, Sony Wonder will also re-release ELMO SAVESCHRISTMAS on DVD and more favorite Sesame Street titles for $19.98.

Monday, December 13, 1999, AtomFilms, a leader in next-generationentertainment, announced that it has inked a deal with investors totalingUS$20 million in financing. This signing marks the end of a second round ofstrategic financing led by Chase Capital Entertainment Partners LLC andChase Capital Partners, and joined by Arts Alliance, Frank J. Biondi Jr.,general partner at WaterView Partners and former chairman and CEO ofUniversal Studios, Intel Corp., and Trans Cosmos USA Inc. "This round of

KIM MCQUILKEN has been promoted to executive vice president of CARTOONNETWORK sales and marketing. Based in Atlanta, his new responsibilitieswill include sales and marketing for Cartoon Network.com. Formerly seniorvice president and general sales manager for the unit, McQuilken joinedTurner Broadcasting System, Inc., in 1992 as director of marketing forspecial projects for the 1994 Goodwill Games in St. Petersburg, Russia.After the Games, he served as vice president, sports and brand licensing

London-based production company AKA PIZAZZ and Internet designers EDWARDSCHURCHER have announced the arrival of the world's first fully interactiveanimated commercial for Compaq. Following on from AKA's recent animated TVcampaign for Compaq, the interactive Web version of "Bird" was created byNeil Churcher, James Stone, and Javier Garcia Flynn of EDWARDS CHURCHER.The spot is now available on the Compaq website. The commercial features afully interactive, realtime animation in which one's cursor movements

After 6 years, the organizers of the Oslo Animation Festival have movedoperations to Fredrikstad, Norway. Complete with a new name, the Nordic andBaltic Animation Festival invites both animators and spectators on May 3-5,2000 to take part in an event dedicated to promoting the screening andbetter understanding of animation. This year's festival presents: Nordicand Baltic films in competition, Nordic and Baltic Panorama, Internationalhighlights, a Focus on British animation, Animation as Music, a Celebration

Wild Brain, Inc., a leading U.S. animation studio, has brought to theever-expanding club its new child, wildbrain.com. The new Web channel willbroadcast animation from around the globe and will be the feature providerof animation on Yahoo! Broadcast. In the deal, Yahoo! will provide Websolutions for Wild Brain's video animation programming, which is availableon wildbrain.com as well as Yahoo! Broadcast. wildbrain.com will debut withGLUE, an Internet exclusive toon featuring the adventures of a town full of

Cult comic and TV franchise THE TICK is getting a new lease on life.Producers Barry Sonnenfeld and Barry Josephson (FANTASY ISLAND, MAXIMUMBOB), via their deal at Columbia TriStar Television, will bring alive-action, primetime half-hour version of the clueless hero's show to FoxBroadcasting. The series is scheduled for fall 2000.

Read more about THE TICK from creator Ben Edlund in the Animation WorldMagazine article "Tick Fever Endures" by Deborah Reber.

Vivid Animation, a new high-end CGI animation studio specializing insophisticated digital characters and animated effects for commercials andinteractive media, has been formed by Jeff Lotman, CEO. "Vivid Animationopens its doors with a trio of world-class digital animators as itscreative nucleus," said Lotman, CEO. This nucleus, all of whom come fromsenior positions at Digital Domain, includes Animation Supervisor, StephaneCouture, Digital Effects Supervisor, Gonzalo Garramuno and Vivid