AWN Headline News

Walt Disney's animated feature, TARZAN, will become the first-ever majorfeature release to be produced, mastered, and exhibited digitally when itopens today, Friday, July 30 at the following theaters: AMC's PleasureIsland multiplex at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, AMC's MediaCenter North 6 in Burbank, California, and the Edwards Irvine Spectrum inIrvine, California. According to Bob Lambert, senior vice president of newtechnology and new media for The Walt Disney Company, "TARZAN was the ideal

Disney is releasing three original made-for-video titles. MADELINE: LOST IN PARIS will appear on August 3. Featuring the voice talents of Jason Alexander, Lauren Bacall, and Christopher Plummer, the story is based on characters that first appeared in the Madeline book series by Ludwig Bemelmans. In LOST IN PARIS, Madeline and her eleven school friends get immersed in an evil plot to steal Madeline's inheritance. BELLE'S TALES OF FRIENDSHIP and HERCULES: ZERO TO HERO will both be released on August 17.

SGI has begun volume shipments of the Silicon Graphics 1600SW digital flat panel monitor for Apple Macintosh computers. The monitor is bundled with the new Macintosh version of the Number Nine Revolution IV-FP graphics accelerator in the Apple Macintosh version of the Digital Flat Panel Solution Pack. The graphics card provides the digital display interface, and features 32MB of graphics memory. The monitor features a 19-inch CRT-equivalent, 17.3 inch 1600 x 1024 pixel screen. It offers three times the brightness and five times the contrast of a comparably-sized CRT, with no flicker.

IMAX Corporation, owner of the large format film theater chain, hasannounced the closing of its strategic investment in Vancouver,Canada-based Mainframe Entertainment Inc., a producer of CGI animation.Under the terms of the agreement, IMAX invested CDN$8 million to acquire a19% equity stake in Mainframe and CDN$8 million to acquire convertiblesenior debt which, if converted, could bring IMAX's ownership up to 30% ofMainframe. Simultaneously, Mainframe announced that two leading Canadian

Lucasfilm's STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE took in $16.5 millionin 24 territories over the weekend, bringing its foreign total to $154.3million. In its second weekend in the UK, it finished first and grossed$8.1 million, which was 70% of the market, for a total of $32.7 million in11 days alone! It finished first for the third straight weekend in Japan,as it grossed $4.5 million, for a total of $39.1 million. DreamWorks' THEPRINCE OF EGYPT grossed $758,000 to bring its foreign total to $118.2

Sydney, Australia-based SOUTHERN STAR SALES has appointed TELERI ROBERTS asthe first General Manager of its business unit Southern Star Kids, andKATHERINE KAUFMAN to the position of Sales Executive for Latin America.Roberts has most recently been working as Sales Head of Cascade, theinternational sales division of Scottish Television Enterprises based inGlasgow, and prior to that worked in several sales positions at Channel 4Wales. As General Manager of Southern Star Kids, she will be based in the

Toronto-based TOPIX/MAD DOG has completed the computer animated :15 RussellStover Peanut Butter and Jelly Cups "Oil Well" for Russell Stover andBerstein-Rein. For the spot, TOPIX/Mad Dog developed proprietary fluiddynamics software that can be customized to replicate jelly spurting out ofan "oil" derrick. Done in Softimage, the spot features little chocolateconstruction workers who become excited when their derrick hits jelly. SeanMontgomery directed.