AWN Headline News

Mondo Media, a leading creator and distributor of serial-based animated

content, announced Monday, February 14, 2000 that it has secured $20

million in its second round of financing. The newest round was led by

Macromedia and Foundation Capital. Additional funding partners in the round

included Sofinnova Ventures, Red Rock Ventures, Silicon Valley Bank and

Phoenix Growth Capital. Mondo Media also added new syndication partners

that include Excite@Home, AltaVista, AtomFilms and washingtonpost.com.

Bouncing into U.S. theatres this past weekend was Disney's newest animated

flick THE TIGGER MOVIE. The throw-back to classic Disney flicks finished

the weekend in fourth place in the U.S. box office, making US$9.43 million.

THE GREEN MILE, with primary visual effects by ILM, Rhythm & Hues, POP and

Matte World Digital, is still bringing in green bills for Warner Bros.,

making another $3.09 million and bringing its total gross to $124.4

million. With other kid fare like THE TIGGER MOVIE and SNOW DAY hitting the

Interactive Effects, producers of high-end visual effects systems Piranha

and Amazon Paint, recently announced the release of Piranha 3.1 for Silicon

Graphics Workstations. The new version expands the systems' capabilities in

areas such as video support, digital audio and disk/graphics performance,

as well as adding new features such as Mipmap Texturing, high speed soft

edged rotosplining and improved image tracking capabilities. Also new to

Intergraph Computer Systems recently announced that they are dropping the

prices of their range of Zx10 ViZual Workstations. The Zx10 is Intergraph's

latest range of high-end workstations that are built around Wahoo

technology and are powered by Intel Pentium III 750 MHz/100 MHz front side

bus processors. A wide range of graphics options are available, from

high-end 2D to mid-range 3D and the industry's fastest high-end 3D graphics

-- Intense3D's Wildcat 4110 VIO Graphics. Now this technology is available

EDWARD ADLER has stepped up to the position of senior VP of corporate

communications at TIME WARNER. Adler will oversee all aspects of

development and implementation of the media conglomerate's global corporate

strategies. Since 1997, he has been a VP of corporate communications and

will continue to serve as the company's chief spokesman.

Expand Images and Ellipse Programme, France's two leading television

production companies, announced on February 10, 2000 plans to merge. The

new studio, entitled Expand, will have an approximate revenue for 2000 of

FRF1.4 billion (US$210.2 million). The deal will enable both parties to

increase their international content output for the expanding European

market. As part of the deal, CANAL+ Images and Finexpand signed an

agreement solidifying their relationship as shareholders in the new studio.

Johnny Bravo will host a talk show and chat with callers live on Cartoon

Network. The toon's flamboyant personality will be brought to life with

Alive Animation's Multi-Standard Instant Cartoon Images (MICI) system.

Programmed to pose Johnny in hundreds of positions, the MICI system also

instantly lip synchs the voice actor to his alter-ego. THE BIG BRAVO-LIVE!

will begin airing February 21 - 25, 2000. This historic event can be

attributed to the success of Johnny Bravo's new weekday morning talk show

Joe Cartoon Company has filed a lawsuit against two entities, John

Zuccarini and Cupcake City, for the violation of the newly enacted

Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act. The lawsuit is one of the first

cases filed under the anticybersquatting statute in the U.S. The act

outlaws the unauthorized use of an Internet domain name that is

"confusingly similar" to another name, for the purpose of intercepting

users of the pre-existing domain. Filed with United States District Court,

The Harvey Entertainment Company and PG Capital, an apparel industry

investment company, have finalized a joint venture for a new apparel

company, Harvey Fashion LLC. The new company will be responsible for

manufacturing, selling and marketing a complete apparel collection, based

on the popular Harvey Classic Character library. Paul Guez will serve as

chairman of the board and CEO. The creation of Harvey Fashion LLC replaces

and extends the scope of an earlier Harvey apparel venture planned with

Director Dick Buckley of FLYING TIGER FILM and visual effects director Alex

Seiden of CYCLOTRON@POST PERFECT N.Y. rounded-up the e-Cowboy's for the

Super Bowl debuted LastMinuteTravel.com spot. Produced for New York-based

agency, Burkhardt & Hillman, the 30-second commercial is a modern spin on

the Sergio Leone spaghetti western. Reinforcing LastMinuteTravel.com's

message that great things happen at the last-minute, the e-Cowboys find

themselves quickly departing on a cyber-booked vacation, to escape an

On the eve of the final PEANUTS comic strip, creator Charles Schulz died of

a heart attack at his Santa Rosa, California home. He was 77 years old. As

reported [AF 11/21/99], Charles Schulz had decided to retire from drawing

his weekly comic strip after several strokes and newly diagnosed cancer had

left him partially blind in one eye and too weak to keep up with the

rigorous routine. A private funeral will be held later this week. He is

survived by his wife, Jeannie; two sons Monte and Craig; and daughter Jill

Jeffrey Katzenberg, co-founder of DreamWorks, officially announced on

February 9, 2000 that his company has acquired the majority of interest,

approximately 80%, in Pacific Data Images (PDI). As reported [AF 2/8/00],

this deal comes on the heals of PDI founder and Chairman, Carl Rosendahl's

departure from the company to pursue "other creative interests." However,

Rosendahl will remains as a consultant for the newly named company,

PDI/DreamWorks. Katzenberg said that Palo Alto-based business will remain a