Fox Family Channel will be shopping for a new head now that president
and CEO Rich Cronin has stepped down from his post. Awaiting the
announcement of Cronin's replacement, programming and marketing
decisions will go through exec VP and Fox Kids general manager
Maureen Smith. Before coming to Fox Family from Viacom, Cronin was
locked up in a breach of contract suit with his former employers.
Once clear of his Viacom commitment, Cronin took Fox Family's reins
On Monday, May 22, 2000, The Walt Disney Co. announced that its majority-owned Toysmart.com has gone off-line. Disney purchased 60% of the e-commerce site for educational toys in August for an estimated US$50 million. Disney execs, which made up 3/5s of the board, decided to shut down operations after a new round of financing was denied. One hundred-ten of the remaining employees were laid off. In April, 205,000 Web surfers visited the site compared to 1.3 million for Toysrus.com and 1 million for EToys said Media Metrix.
Phillip Bowman and Malcolm McGookin have formed a new animation house in Brisbane, Australia called ASTERISK* Animation. Bowman will serve as executive producer and McGookin as producer and director. Bowman has vast experience in both live-action production and animated television series. His credits include ABC network's LIZZIE'S LIBRARY and KITU AND WOOF. McGookin first started his animation career on the Cosgrove Hall shows COUNT DUCKULA and DANGERMOUSE. Afterwards, McGookin moved on to writing and directing AVENGER PENGUINS and TABALUGA in the U.K and Australia.
* Thursday, June 1 - Monday, June 26, 2000. New York, New York, U.S.A.
* Monday, June 12 - Saturday, June 17, 2000. Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
* Wednesday, June 21 - Sunday, June 25, 2000. Nantucket, New York, U.S.A.
* Thursday, June 22 - Saturday, June 24, 2000. Arles, Provence, France.
* Wednesday, June 28 - Sunday, July 1, 2000. Jakarta, Indonesia.
*Friday, May 5 - Sunday, July 9, 2000. Beverly Hills, California, U.S.A.
* Thursday, June 1 - Monday, June 26, 2000. New York, New York, U.S.A.
* Thursday, June 8 & Saturday, June 10, 2000. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A
* Sunday, June 11, 2000. Santa Monica, California, U.S.A.
* Friday, June 23 - Thursday, June 29, 2000. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
* Friday, June 23 - Sunday, June 25, 2000. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
* Thursday, June 29 - Saturday, July 1, 2000. Singapore, Singapore.
* Friday, May 19 - Sunday, October 1, 2000. Burbank, California, U.S.A.
* Wednesdays from May 24 - December 13, 2000. Glendale, California, U.S.A.
ASIFA-Hollywood and Glendale Community College are offering life-drawing workshops. The workshop offers live models in pose from one to fifteen minutes in duration, about forty poses per session. Professional assistance is available from the workshop supervisor. The classes run from 7 to 10 pm. The price is US$10 for the public and $7 for ASIFA-Hollywood members. For more information contact ASIFA-Hollywood at Tel.: (818) 842-8330.
* Wednesday, May 31 - Saturday, June 3, 2000. Maui, Hawaii, U.S.A.
For the week ending May 21, GLADIATOR still reigned in the U.K. and Australia and conquered new territory in Italy. By more than doubling the debut of FINAL DESTINATION, the DreamWorks colossal hit grossed another US$5.11 million in the U.K. The world champ has garnered $13.96 million on the British Isle. More than tripling the second placed newcomer ROMEO MUST DIE, the Roman ruler grossed $3.32 million in Australia, raising its cume in that country to $7.79 million. In its Italian premiere, the maker of Maximus coin landed $1.89 million.
Proving the further back in history movies go the more money they make, Disneys DINOSAUR stepped over the two week champion GLADIATOR. The nine-digit price-tagged prehistoric epic grossed US$38.85 million. DreamWorks GLADIATOR dazzled audiences to the tune of another $19.75 million. The Roman romp in only three weeks of release has made a total of $103.1 million. Slipping a spot to #4, U-571 grossed an additional $4.64 million. The Universal U-boat adventure has made $64.39 million thus far in the U.S. New Lines FREQUENCY dropped to 5th place making $4.34 million.
The former owners of Cinars subsidiary, HighReach Learning, Inc., have filed a lawsuit against the parent company to recover alleged losses related to a stock purchase agreement concluded with Cinar as part of the purchase price of HighReach in 1998. The complaint contains allegations that Cinar is liable for losses in stock due to the ongoing investigation into their alleged fraudulent actions. "These legal proceedings pertain to circumstances surrounding the stock purchase agreement negotiated between Cinar and the former owners of HighReach Learning in 1998.
On Friday, May 19, 2000, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences bestowed the honor of outstanding childrens animated program on STEVEN SPIELBERG PRESENTS: PINKY, ELMYRA AND THE BRAIN. The toons left in their wake were ARTHUR, DISNEYS DOUG, MAURICE SENDAKS LITTLE BEAR and THE NEW BATMAN/SUPERMAN ADVENTURES. SESAME STREET beat out BLUES CLUES in the category of outstanding pre-school series. Other animated winners were given out on Saturday, May 13 at the technical achievement ceremony. ROLIE POLIE OLIE won the award for outstanding special class animated program.
The Harvey Entertainment Company announced that its first quarter income has improved nearly 25% over last years results. Net operating revenues improved to US$882,000 in the first quarter of 2000, compared to $562,000 in 1999. Harvey saw a reduced loss from operations of $598,000 in the first quarter of 2000, compared to a loss of $2,412,000 a year ago. These figures do not include the CASPER owners recent purchase of PM Entertainment.
Pokemon has caught new deals with several eastern European countries and renewals from around the rest of the continent. New locations of Pokemon infestation include Polsat in Poland, RTL-Klub in Hungary, Nova in Czech Republic, ETV in South Africa and Fox Kids Scandinavia Satelite service. The countries that renewed the second seasons 52-episodes were TV2 in Denmark, TV2 in Norway, TV4 in Sweden, Star Channel in Greece and RTL in Belgium.
VanHook Studios, a Hollywood-based effects and animation house, has ventured into cyberspace with a new episodic program for whatsonweb.com. VanHook has worked on the visual effects for such features as MY FAVORITE MARTIAN and 13TH WARRIOR and TV series ALLY MCBEAL, ZENA, HERCULES and MAX STEEL. The first series to hit whatsonweb.com will be the fantasy series KIRA: THE CURSED, staring adult film star Kylie Ireland. "Kylie is a great choice for us. Not only is she a wonderful actress, with great screen presence she also has an enormous and incredibly loyal fanbase.
