AWN Headline News

The Chinese Administration of Radio, Film and Television has instituted a new regulation cutting the airtime of imported cartoons. Starting on June 1, TV networks in China must air six Chinese toons for every four imported ones. Before the new rule two-thirds of the cartoons broadcast in China were from foreign soil and with their domestic production only reaching 6,000 minutes (roughly 272 twenty-two-minute episodes) a year there is little for Chinese programming to choose from.

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Rick's Picks!

Over at Wildbrain.com, the new JOE PARADISE is simply great. The slick and interesting design creates a visually impressive piece of toonage. Created by Roque Ballesteros, this action/comedy is one of the smartest, coolest and most innovative series on the Net. Watch for the subtle visual metaphors. Theres not much action in this episode, but if you havent seen this series before I highly recommend you check out the archives.

Ring of Fire finished the visual effects for two 30-second commercials for Unisys. "Pigeons" starts with a man sitting down on a park bench next to a Unisys specialist. As the ad progresses, the female specialist gets wrapped up in telling the man all about e-business, and her head becomes encased in a monitor. When she calms down the monitor disappears and the tag line says, "At Unisys, we eat, sleep and drink this stuff!" Again in "Golf," Bob, the Unisys specialist, has his head encased in a monitor as he tells his friends about e-business on the golf course.

Late swing-jazz singer Louis Primas widow, Gia Prima, has filed suit against the Walt Disney Company for unpaid royalties from video and DVD sales of THE JUNGLE BOOK, in which her husband voiced the character King Louie of the Apes. The Prima estate has received royalties on audio recordings of the soundtrack, however Disney contends the contract Prima signed was for audio recordings only and that Disney has "met all contractual obligations to Mr. Prima's estate." However, new technologies, like videocassettes and DVDS, were not invented when Prima signed the contract.

Disneys newest animated feature LILO AND STITCH has begun production. The long in the works project has begun initial production at Disneys Orlando animation studio. Some of the production is scheduled to be done in Hawaii where the story is based. The film tells the tale of a Hawaiian girl who adopts a dog that is really an evil space alien. Jason Scott Lee (RUDYARD KIPLING'S THE JUNGLE BOOK) has signed on to voice a muscular, tanned surfboard salesmen, while Tia Carrere (WAYNES WORLD) will voice Lilo's sister.