AWN Headline News

Honkworm International, a leading producer of original on-line entertainment content, has unveiled three new animation projects at the Cannes Film Festival. Each title will consist of no less than 20 Webisodes, ranging from two to six minutes in length. Honkworm executive VP of content Chris Cobb said, "We approach each of our short-form series from a filmmakers perspective, for us, first and foremost, it's about storytelling.

Tom Snyder Productions announced that it has signed a deal with Shockwave.com to create, develop and produce three original shows for the Internet. Each of the three shows will debut over the summer with eight two-minute episodes. The first of the new Webisodes is EXTREMELY RELAXED FLIGHT CONTROL TOWER where a sensitive consultant tries to help air traffic controllers relax on the job. O'GRADY HIGH follows alien invaders who have minimal effects on teens. The third toon, CLEAR!, centers on an inner city emergency medical crew that works hard at avoiding emergencies.

As anticipated, Marvel's net sales decreased over last years first quarter period due in part to film licensing revenue. The year-ago quarter included a non-refundable advance from Sony Pictures Entertainment for the feature film license of Spider-Man, as well as an advance from Universal Studios for a feature film based on The Hulk. Also, year-ago first quarter revenues reflected strong initial distribution shipments for the Toy Biz divisions new line of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) products.

The continuing tribulation around the merger of Time Warner and America On-line now includes impending separate fines looming over the two firms. The Los Angeles City Attorneys Office and Information Technology and General Services Committee are looking to the recent dispute between Disney and Time Warner, which resulted in Time Warner pulling ABC from its cable service. The move affected some 400,000 subscribers for 36 hours, which included the sweeps week celebrity broadcast of WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONARE.

* Friday, April 7 Thursday, May 25, 2000. Montpelier, Maryland, U.S.A.

* Wednesday, June 21 Sunday, June 25, 2000. Zagreb, Croatia.

On Sunday, June 11, 2000 at 9 pm, Cartoon Network will present an hour of cartoons never-before-seen on television during "The Lost Cartoons" TOONHEADS Special. Airing on "Lost Cartoons" will be Spooney Melodies' CRYIN' FOR THE CAROLINES, Leon Schlesinger's short-lived collection of musical "Vitaphone Varieties," which feature abstract animation using paper cut-outs and double exposures to create visual accompaniment to arranged music.

More than doubling the gross of new comer BATTLEFIELD EARTH, GLADIATOR reins a top the U.S. box office for the second weekend. The DreamWorks epic, with primary special effects by Mill Film Ltd., grossed US$24.65 million. The Roman actioner has now made $73.66 million in just over a full week in release. The critically panned BATTLEFIELD EARTH finished in second despite reviews stating it is the worst film in years. The sci-fi flick based on a novel by L. Ron Hubbard grossed $11.55 million. Universals U-571 slipped a spot to third grossing another $5.74 million.

* Friday, May 19 Sunday, May 21, 2000. Bristol, U.K.

On Saturday May 13, 2000, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences handed out their Daytime Emmy Awards for technical achievement. Many of the awards handed out featured animated series like big winner ROLIE POLIE OLIE for best special class animated program. The 3D animation series beat out ANGELA ANACONDA, BATMAN BEYOND, DISNEYS MICKEY MOUSEWORKS and THE SYLVESTER & TWEETY MYSTERIES for the honor. BLUES CLUES lost to BILL NYE THE SCIENCE GUY in the childrens series writing category and lost to BEAR IN THE BIG BLUE HOUSE in the childrens series directing category.