Scaring the mutants out of #1, DreamWorks WHAT LIES BENEATH finished atop the U.S. box office charts. The haunted house horror flick, with primary visual effects by SPI, grossed US$29.7 million. Slipping to second, THE X-MEN, with primary visual effects by Cinesite, CORE Digital, Digital Domain, Hammerhead Productions, Kleiser-Walczak Co., Matte World and POP Film, dropped 56% from its opening weekend, but still racking up another $23.47 million.
The Quickdraw Animation Society web site has been updated...
Magna Entertainment Corp. has appointed Mark Feldman to the position of president and chief executive officer. Previously, Feldman was executive vice president of E! and was responsible for all of its core business operations, including all international ventures and sales, on-line operations, new business development and general administration.
This week's updates to the Calendar of Events include the Burbank International Children's Film Festival, the Bourg-en-Bresse Animated Cartoon Festival For Young People in France, a Centennial Tribute To Oskar Fischinger, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Auction Extravaganza and many more! With multiple search capabilities, AWN's calendar of events gives you a customized way to look through the upcoming events - by Name, Location, Entry Deadline, Category, Event Type and more. Use it to stay abreast of animation related activities across the globe.
Infogrames, Inc., announced that entertainment industry veterans Jason Bell and Alyssa Padia have joined Infogrames' North American management team. Bell will become senior vice president of publishing for Infogrames' North American operations, while Padia will become senior vice president of corporate evolution. Bell will head all publishing activities for Infogrames' labels in the U.S. For the past six years, Bell has worked at Electronic Arts and Kesmai. During that time, he held senior management roles focused on development of single player and multi-player games.
Check out the latest "behind the scenes" features and tutorials from Visual Magic Magazine...
Plympton's new series of comics extracted from the comic book, "Sleazy Cartoons of Bill Plympton," is for ADULTS ONLY...
Test your skills and challenge your brain with AWN's Animation Trivia Quiz...
Dusan Vukotic, Croatian animator, director, artist and former head of the animation unit of Duga Film, known as the Zagreb Animation Studio, passed away two years ago at the age of 71. He directed films such as "The Playful Robot" (1956), "Concerto for Sub-Machine Gun" (1959) and "Substitute/Ersatz" (1961), the first non-U.S. animated film to win the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film. Another of his films, "The Game" was nominated for an Academy Award in 1964.
John Kricfalusi will be unveiling his new creation WEEKEND PUSSY HUNT on July 22, 2000. At Comic Con International, John K will give fans a sneak peek at his new Icebox series, which follows the adventures of Cigarettes the Cat and his flight to outrun the nasty crime boss Dirty Dawg. Present at the premiere will also be Icebox co-founder Rob Lazebnik, FUTURAMAs Eric Kaplan and THE CRITICs Mike Reiss. Garry Levine, president of Icebox, said, "We are ecstatic to have a legend like John K choice Icebox as his on-line home.
MR Kinowelt Merchandising has nabbed the German-language merchandising rights to the highly anticipated fantasy trilogy THE LORD OF THE RINGS. The financial stats on the deal with New Line Cinema were not released. MR Kinowelt is made up of a joint venture between German indie distributor Kinowelt and MR Merchandising & Retail. The deal marks the first RINGS merchandising deal outside the States. The first film in the trilogy is scheduled to arrive in movie houses December 2001. Kinowelt is handling the release of all three pictures in Germany.
* Thursday, October 19 Sunday, October 22, 2000. New York, New York, U.S.A.
Entry Deadline: September 1, 2000.
* October 2000. World Wide Web.
Entry Deadline: September 30, 2000.
J.J. Sedelmaier Productions has finished a new commercial for Clorox Clean-up spray cleaner. "Side-by-side Houses" shows two houses, one cleaned by Lysol and the other by Clorox. The voice over says, "Both houses are clean," but then the Lysol house sneezes, and the narrator continues with, "Clorox Clean-up spray destroys ninety-nine percent of all allergens." The spot ends with the Clorox house smiling happily. Sedelmaier brought in designer/illustrator Bonnie Timmons to bring her watercolor style and sweet sensibility to the characters.
Diecks Group created the 15-second teaser for the Showtime television series, SOUL FOOD, based off the 1997 feature film by the same name. The challenge for creative director Brian Diecks and art director Michael Waldron was to form a smooth and effective teaser from stills because the series had not yet begun production.
Beverly Hills, California-based Dali Media Inc., a new media production company, is looking for 2D/3D CHARACTER ANIMATORS willing to work in and/or learn Flash for a freelance/staff position. . . New York-based Pratt Institute is looking for a 3D STUDIO MAX INSTRUCTOR. . . Seattle-based AtomFilms, a leader in next generation entertainment, is looking for an ANIMATION ACQUISITIONS MANAGER. . . Milano, Italy-based Green Movie Group, an independent film production and post-production company, is looking for an ANIMATION SUPERVISOR to work on a large scale animated feature film project. . .
Humongous Entertainment, a division of Infogrames, Inc., has named Andy Hieke as general manager and senior vice president. Hieke will oversee all aspects of the company's operations, which include maintaining their current franchises, such as PUTT-PUTT, FREDDI FISH, PAJAMA SAM and SPY FOX as well as introducing new products onto new platforms and into new markets. Just prior to joining Humongous, Hieke served as the senior vice president of product development for Nintendo Software Technology Corporation.
ZeroOne Productions, a new client of AWN, would like to invite you to put your animation works on DVD...
Tape House Toons, a New York-based full-service animation studio, has appointed award-winning storyboard artist and illustrator Richard Codor as design director. Codor will head and art direct for the growing animation department on all projects, as well as continue storyboarding duties. Codor started his work with Tape House when he supervised the layout work for a series of short animated inserts for THE REAL LIZZIE MCGUIRE, a Disney Channel television pilot.
Interested in learning 3D Studio MAX, the latest software for computer animation..?
Executive producers Michael Miller and Rick Wagonheim have joined Rhinoceros Visual Effects and Design, New York, as part of the partnership and management team. The duo will be responsible for expanding and redirecting the fledgling digital studio owned by Multi-Video Group, Ltd. Previously, Miller and Wagonheim worked at R/Greenberg Associates, where they produced many award-winning commercials from 1996-2000. Wagonheim said, "Rhinoceros had done work on one of our R/GA spots and we started talking to (CEO, Multi-Video Group, Ltd.) David Binstock.
The ASIFA-Canada web site is now bilingual...
Sega of America has appointed Joseph Culley as vice president of marketing. Culley will help steer marketing, advertising and promotional campaigns for Sega Dreamcast and SegaNet. A brand-building veteran with most recently Levi Strauss & Co, Culley has 14 years experience in consumer marketing, business development and brand positioning. As vice president of marketing, Culley will oversee Sega's brand strategy and marketing programs, including positioning, advertising, corporate identity and channel marketing.
* Saturday, September 23, 2000. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. Entry Deadline: August 31, 2000.
TOKYOPOP.com has extended their first AnimeOnline Festival until September. Animation artists working in the anime style are invited to submit their original anime Internet works in Flash, Shockwave or Quicktime formats. There are five categories in which participants may enter: Fantasy/Sci-Fi, Fighting (Battle), Love/Comedy, Shoujo (Girl's Anime) and Asia Pop Focus (Open Category). Participants may enter into more than one category and may
Pulse Entertainment announced the appointment of three key industry executives to its senior staff. Sally Driver was named senior vice president of marketing; Abe Mammen, vice president of engineering; and Brian Becker, vice president of brand development and research. Driver will lead the development and execution of all aspects of Pulse's marketing strategy, including brand development, marketing communications and corporate communications.
