AWN Headline News

A strike by union employees at Disneyland Paris may stop the park's rocking

New Year's Eve celebration. Disney played down the chance of a strike,

however local union leader Elena Stanciu warned, "The party'll be ruined,"

citing staff frustration over slow-moving pay talks and dissatisfaction

with a $115 New Year's Eve bonus as the main reasons for the latest threat

of a walk out. Stanciu said seasonal staff were being offered almost four

Template Graphics Software (TGS) recently announced that its modeling and

animation software Amapi, was receiving an upgrade. The new release will be

'officially' announced at the Mac World Expo in January, however, the new

version is available now. It features Dynamic Geometry, which allows users

to edit an object dynamically by changing its outline, profile or basic

structure, through the software's ability to remember the construction

history of the object. The upgrade also has a new Decimation tool, which

Twenty 2D/3D animation and special effects companies from Quebec, Canada

have formed a union in order to better promote the award winning work done

in the region. Called Quebec Animation, the association is supported by the

Quebec Minister of Industry and Commerce, the Quebec Minister of

Communications and Culture, the Quebec Minister of International Relations,

the Montreal Bureau of Cinema, and the Canadian Service Center in

Multimedia Applications (CESAM). The association sets up a focal point for

Urban Vision will soon re-release Vampire Hunter D and Wicked City. The

classic horror anime D will hit streets January 18, 2000 and Yoshiaki

Kawajiri's hit Wicked City debuted December 7, 1999. Both flicks will be

available in an English Dubbed version for US$19.95 and a Japanese with

English subtitles version for $29.95. Other anime titles coming soon to DVD

are Slayers: The Motion Picture, street date February 8, 2000 for $29.98

and Legend Of Crystania: The Motion Picture, street date February 8, 2000

Next summer the third feature installment of the POKEMON trilogy will makeits way to Japanese theatres. POCKET MONSTER: THE LORD OF THE UNKNOWN TOWERwill introduce yet another of those little "pocket things" to kids andmerchandising execs around the world. Kunihiko Yuyama is set to direct thefilm, which will feature a short tentatively titled POKEMON 2000. If in theU.S. or Europe one may ask, whatever happened to POKEMON 2? Well, fear notCharmander chums, the second POKEMON feature, which was released in Japan

Harvey Entertainment Company has inked a deal with San Francisco-basedSpunky Productions, Inc., a digital media company, to produce anddistribute Richie Rich Web cartoons. The new toons will be available onboth SpunkyTown.com and the Harvey site. Spunky will adapt early comic bookadventures of the world's richest kid into 2 - 5 minute episodes to startairing during the holiday season. Product tie-ins will be developed by bothcompanies to be sold on both of their Web sites. Dan March, Director of New