Exceptional Anniversary Sale on Original Artwork from "The Big Snit"
April 1st, 2000 marks the first day of AWN's fifth year in existence. This is also the 15th anniversary of "The Big Snit," Richard Condie's Academy Award-nominated animated film...
AWN Headline News
Plympton on Broadway
Bill Plympton will be appearing at Carolines on Broadway in New York City on May 24, 2000...
In Headline News | Geographic Region: All
ASIFA-CANADA Upcoming Events
Chris Robinson, Director of the Ottawa International Animation Festival, is on tour in Canada to present a screening and discussion of the Best New Canadian Animation. The screenings will take place in Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto. Admission is free. The schedule is as follows: Vancouver: Wednesday, April 5th, 7:00pm at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, Granville Island; Hosted by ASIFA Vancouver. Calgary: Saturday, April 8th; Contact Carol Beecher at reaper@spots.ab.ca; Hosted by the Quickdraw Animation Society (QAS).
Plympton's Comic of the Week
Plympton's new series of comics extracted from the comic book, "Sleazy Cartoons of Bill Plympton," is for ADULTS ONLY...
In Headline News | Geographic Region: All
This Week's Animation Trivia Quiz
Test your skills and challenge your brain with AWN's Animation Trivia Quiz...
In Headline News | Geographic Region: All
Store Specials: New Vilppu Drawing Manual And Videos
Prestigious life drawing instructor Glenn Vilppu is offering two new video tapes of his classes on drawing, a PROFILE DEMONSTRATION and a FRONT VIEW DEMONSTRATION. Vilppu said: "These are the best demonstrations of head drawing that I have done so far. The two demonstrations are done using black, red and white pencils. I also have a new mike so the sound is excellent." In the Anatomy Demonstration series, now available is a DEMONSTRATION OF LEG DRAWING video. Each video is available for $24.94 plus s/h.
A Closer Look: At The Dawn Of AWN's Fifth Year, a Note From The Publisher
You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet!...
Disney Teams With Gemstar Against AOL/Time Warner
On Wednesday, March 29, 2000, Disney lobbyists helped deliver Gemstar's FCC complaint against the America On-Line and Time Warner merger to members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Gemstar has agreements with TV stations in every market in the U.S., which allows the company to engrave program information into broadcast signals. VCRs equipped with Gemstar's VCR-Plus technology can then decode the signal, making it easier for users to record TV programming.
CINAR Suspends Globe-X Lawsuit
Montreal-based CINAR Corp. has come to an interim deal with Globe-X Management, which halts the pending lawsuit against the investment firm. The agreement allows CINAR Corp. to look into investments made, without board approval, in Globe-X Management's affiliate Globe-X Canadiana. However, the deal does not finalizes the terms in which CINAR will be able to recover the nearly US$76 million invested in Globe-X. The lawsuit was filed on Monday, March 20, in an attempt to recover the funds, which were signed by former co-CEO Ronald Weinberg and senior executive VP Hasanain Panju.
NBC's God Excommunicated
Perhaps, Neitchze was correct because GOD is dead. At least NBC's rendition of him is. The troubled toon GOD THE DEVIL AND BOB has been excommunicated from NBC's line-up. The decision to pull the series out of the line-up came in response to the lowest ratings ever for a regularly scheduled program in the Tuesday 8:30 pm time slot. Nearly 5% of the country's NBC affiliates had already pre-empted the show from their schedule for either religious concerns or they felt it just wasn't funny. Recently, advertisers were even turning their attention away from the ify animation series.
The Scene At Stuttgart
The Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film was celebrated March 16-21, marking its 20th year in existence. The biannual festival presented a wide ranging programme, giving prizes worth 142,000 German marks (70,000 euros or US dollars) and enjoying a growth of 25% in the number of spectators. With approximately 42,000 spectators and some 500 films in the programme, Stuttgart calls itself, "The second largest animated film event world wide," a definition which might well be true. A new competition category this year was for feature animations.
WIA's Production Management Group Discussion
*Wednesday, April 5, 2000. Burbank, California. U.S.A.
Kirikou And The Sorceress Screening
* Sunday, April 10, 2000. Orange, California, U.S.A.
The 9th Cartoonist International Animated Film Festival & Market
* Friday, April 21 - Sunday, April 23, 2000. Toulon, France.
The 9th edition of the Cartoonist International Animated Film Festival & Market is expecting 30,000 participants, including production and distribution companies, as well as comic book and game companies. For more information contact Cartoonist M. Gilbert at: Residence du Port, Impasse St Dominique, 83000 Toulon, France; Tel.: ++ 33 (0) 4 94 03 12 67; or Fax: ++ 33 (0) 4 98 02 57 06.
City Of Lights, City Of Angels: A Week Of New French Films
* Tuesday, April 25 - Saturday, April 29, 2000. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
Mediawave International Visual Arts Festival
* Tuesday, April 25 - Monday, May 1, 2000. Soprani, Hungary.
Nordic And Baltic Animation Festival Fredrikstad
* Wednesday, May 3 - Sunday, May 7, 2000. Fredrikstad, Norway.
3D Conference and Expo
* Monday, May 8 - Thursday, May 11, 2000. Santa Clara, California, USA.
The Golden Sheaf Awards
* Thursday, May 11 - Sunday, May 14, 2000. Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Animation Nation
* Monday, April 3, 2000. Studio City, California, U.S.A.
Macromedia Ventures Into A New Division
On March 21, 2000, Macromedia, Inc. announced the formation of a venture unit to invest in companies that share Macromedia's vision of Web infrastructure and the interactive, multi-device, broadband Internet of the future. The unit's first investments include Spiderdance, Context Media and iHarvest Corporation. Spiderdance, with branches in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New Jersey, develops a software system that synchs the Web with TV broadcasts.
Stuart Little Exec Drives StarCars
The executive producer of STUART LITTLE, Stephen Waterman, has signed on to exec produce the new animated feature STARCARS, a co-production between Korean-based entertainment conglomerate Ameko Entertainment Company Ltd. and Hyper Image LLC, an American animation studio specializing in sci-fi CGI. Dong Chung, COO of Ameko will co-executive produce the project. "I am genuinely excited about taking animation beyond the next level and into a new universe," Waterman said.
Todd McFarlane Eggs Altar Boys
Todd McFarlane Entertainment (TME) has agreed to work with Jodie Foster's production company, Egg Pictures, on a new film, THE DANGEROUS LIVES OF ALTAR BOYS. ALTAR BOYS, directed by Peter Care and featuring Foster in a supporting role, tells the tale of a group of Catholic school friends who are caught drawing an obscene comic book. TME will produce the animation segments for the film, which is set to begin shooting in May.
Giant Studios Captures Lord Of The Rings
Giant Studios' Motion Reality system has been selected as the technology of choice for motion-capture services on the highly anticipated New Line Cinema feature film trilogy, THE LORD OF THE RINGS. New Line Cinema has signed Wellington, New Zealand-based Weta, Ltd. to handle the visual effects, and Weta has named Giant Studios as the exclusive motion-capture resource for all three films.
Joe Cartoon Caps Cybersquatter
On March 24, 2000, Joe Cartoon Co., the producers of popular Web toons FROG IN A BLENDER and LEMMINGS, was awarded a preliminary injunction against John Zuccarini for cybersquatting. The court order bars Zuccarini from using or endorsing the use of the domain names joescartoon.com, joecarton.com, joescartons.com, joescartoons.com, cartoonjoe.com and any other derivative of Joe Cartoon Co.'s joecartoon.com URL.
