An Extremely Goofy Movie Stumbles Into Stores
On February 29, 2000, Disney will debut its new direct-to-video feature
entitled AN EXTREMELY GOOFY MOVIE. The new Goofy flick follows Goofy and
his son Max as they both go off to college. Goofy brings some old-fashioned
ideas along that embarrass young Max. But all bets are off as both father
and son compete in the "College X Games," an extreme sports competition.
The VHS tape will be priced at US$24.99 and the DVD will be $29.99. An
added bonus is the short entitled KIDS' GOOFIEST JOKES, a collection of
Catch Pokemon: The First Movie On Video
On March 21, 2000, POKEMON: THE FIRST MOVIE will hit stores across the U.S.
Every DVD and video will feature a sneak preview of this summer's new
theatrical film POKEMON THE MOVIE 2000 plus THE STORY OF MEWTWO'S ORIGIN.
To promote the video release, five special "Golden Tickets" will be
included in random VHS packages. The five lucky recipients will win a
first-edition starter set of Team Rocket game cards, a trip for two to
Japan, a meeting with Mr. Ishihara, creator of the POKEMON card game and a
LucasArts Brings Their Far, Far Away Galaxy To Dreamcast
Sega of America announced that LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC has
become a new third party publisher for the Sega Dreamcast. Scheduled to
ship Spring 2000, STAR WARS: EPISODE I RACER will be the first LucasArts
title to hit Dreamcast. LucasArts is committed to providing additional
titles in the future, adding to Sega's long list of third party publishers
and developers for Sega Dreamcast. Taking advantage of Dreamcast's Internet
capabilities, STAR WARS: EPISODE I RACER will allow gamers to post high
Sammy Sosa Hits For 3DO
The 3DO Company has signed an exclusive multi-year agreement with U.S.
Major League Baseball's 1999 Man of the Year, Sammy Sosa of the Chicago
Cubs. Sosa will help in the development and marketing of 3DO's baseball
franchise, SAMMY SOSA HIGH HEAT BASEBALL. In the February 2000 issue of
COMPUTER GAMING WORLD MAGAZINE, SAMMY SOSA HIGH HEAT 2000 was named "Best
Sports Game Of The Year" and PC GAMER MAGAZINE even went as far as to call
it "The Best Baseball Game Ever." "I agree with the gaming magazines that
Igel Names Galton New Head Of Distribution
Hamberg, Germany-based IGEL MEDIA AG, an independent distributor of family
programming, has announced ED GALTON as their new head of distribution.
Galton will head worldwide distribution for the company focusing on
strengthening its operations outside of Germany. Previously at Gaumont as
VP/Head of Television and Video Sales, Galton organized the pre-sales and
distribution for such titles as OGGY AND THE COCKROACHES, SPACE GOOFS and
HIGHLANDER, THE RAVEN.
Ring Of Fire Fans The Flames With 6 New Artists
RING OF FIRE expands its flames with six new artists. Joining the
Hollywood, California-based visual effects and design studio are Infero
artists ALI LAVENTHOL and ALAN LATTERI, visual effects/digital composite
artist JEREMY ALCOCK, CGI artist JOHN JENKINS and producers JILL HEINRICH
and KIMBERLY EVANS. Before Ring of Fire, Laventhol was a freelance Flame
artist working at Rhythm & Hues. Latteri comes to Ring of Fire with credits
on X-FILES: THE MOVIE, STAR TREK IX: INSURRECTION and GODZILLA. Coming from
Nick Jr Comes To CBS Saturday Mornings
As a result of the pending merger between CBS and Viacom, which owns
Nickelodeon, some of Nick Jr.'s top preschool shows may air on CBS Saturday
mornings. The shows would help breath life into CBS' low-rated block of
Saturday morning children's programming according to executives from both
companies who spoke on condition of anonymity. No final decision has been
made on which shows will air on CBS, though the hits BLUE'S CLUES and
LITTLE BILL are almost Eyeball Channel bound. The move is reminiscent of
Brak Presents The Brak Show Starring Brak Premiere
On Sunday, February 20, 2000, everyone's favorite alien villain from Space
Ghost's CARTOON PLANET, Brak, will present his own half-hour musical
variety show on Cartoon Network entitled BRAK PRESENTS THE BRAK SHOW
STARRING BRAK. Starting at 7 pm, the special will feature 10 original songs
and many comedy sketches. The dimwitted host gets the chance to sing a
heart-warming duet with R&B singer Monica, ride down a country road in an
ol' pick-up truck singing the tune "Highway 40" with teen film star Freddie
Live-Action Tick Actor Named
Patrick Warburton, best known for playing Elaine's mechanic boyfriend,
Putty, on SEINFELD, will don the blue superhero suit in the new live-action
TV series THE TICK. Barry Sonnenfeld will direct the half-hour pilot, and
share executive producing credits with partner Barry Josephson and TICK
creator Ben Edlund. Shooting is scheduled for the first two weeks in April.
Angela Anaconda Marathon
To celebrate the American holiday, President's Day, Fox Family will be
hosting a seven hour marathon of ANGELA ANACONDA on Monday, February 21,
2000. Fourteen episodes of the hit animated series will air back-to-back
starting at 7:30 am. Catch all of Angela's misadventures with her friends
and chief rival Nanette Manoir, her stuck-up blonde classmate.
Digimon Marathon
DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS will take over the airwaves for a seven hour
marathon on Sunday, February 27, 2000. The "Digithon" will feature 11 new
episodes to Fox Family starting at 7 am. Follow the mysterious adventures
of the series' seven young heroes as they discover the secrets of the
"black gear" which threatens the existence of Digiworld.
The Acrobat Issue of Animation World Magazine Is Now On-line!
February is our annual motion-capture and stop-motion issue, and we have
plenty in store as usual. Sharon Schatz interviews Brian Nilles of leading
motion-capture technology firm, Vicon Motion Systems. Gregory Singer goes
behind the scenes on one of the many projects which uses Vicon's
technology, while Laura Schiff introduces us to Webbie Tookay, a new
motion-capture personality. On the stop-motion side of things, Wendy
Jackson covers Aardman Animations' current high flying times as they work
New Jobs: Professor of Computer Art & Stop-motion Animation
The SAVANNAH COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN, located in historic Savannah,
Georgia, USA, is seeking candidates with college-level teaching experience
for the position of PROFESSOR OF COMPUTER ART to teach beginning and
advanced level courses in Stop-Motion and Clay Animation. The successful
candidate should have professional experience as an
animator/director/designer, and familiarity with a wide range of
fabrication materials, techniques and styles, including armatures and
New Jobs: Terraglyph seeks Animators and Illustrators
Chicago suburbs-based TERRAGLYPH INTERACTIVE STUDIOS is expanding its
game development team...
AWN's Third Annual Oscar Showcase and Un-official Oscar Race!
When the day broke on Tuesday, an old man wasn't humdrum about joining a
list of Oscar nominees that included three misses and my grandmother who
irons shirts...
Roy Disney goes to Annecy
For the 40th anniversary of the Annecy festival and ASIFA, Annecy is
welcoming an exceptional guest, Mr. Roy E. Disney, as Honorary President of
this 24th edition...
Animha Calls for Children's Drawings
Animha Productions, a unique association of professionals dedicated to
independent film production and animation workshops, is working on a peace
film project created by Prakash Moorthy in India and Animha's Dave
Brunskill in England. The film will include single drawings and paintings
done by 5-7 year-old children from around the world, and all children are
invited to participate. The subject is "a mother sending her child to
school." Drawings should reflect the national identity of the child, using
AtomFilms Broadcasts USC Alumus' Films
On Tuesday, February 15, 2000, AtomFilms, a leader in next-generation
entertainment, announced that it has locked the first-ever, exclusive,
on-line distribution deal with the USC School of Cinema-Television to
broadcast student films from the illustrious film school's catalog. As part
of the deal, for the next 18 months, USC will provide AtomFilms with
exclusive on-line distribution rights to 100 student titles which includes
shorts from famed alumnus George Lucas and Robert Zemeckis. On February 15,
New at Visual Magic Magazine
Check out the latest "behind the scenes" features and tutorials from Visual
Magic Magazine...
Former Time Inc. Pres., Marcom New VP At AtomFilms
ATOMFILMS, a leader in next-generation entertainment, announced that JOHN
MARCOM, former President of Time Inc. International, will join as the new
senior VP of worldwide revenue and media strategies. In his new role,
Marcom will coordinate worldwide on-line and off-line sales of AtomFilms'
growing library of short-form entertainment. During his stint at Time Inc.,
Marcom oversaw a catalog of more than a dozen national and international
news, business and lifestyle publications. Joining Time Inc. in 1993,
Fourteen Additions to AWN's Calendar of Events
This week's updates to the Calendar of Events includes fourteen new events,
from animation, short film and visual arts events to business conferences...
Toy Story 2: The Buzz In The UK
Opening the weekend of February 11, 2000 in the U.K., TOY STORY 2 has
already broken box office records. Playing on 495 screens, the sequel
grossed US$12.8 million in its first three days. The feat even beat out
bohemeth-grossing STAR WARS EPISODE 1, which made only $12.5 million in its
first U.K. weekend. So far Buena Vista International, which is distributing
the film outside the U.S., said the movie has already grossed $332 million
worldwide. Playing on 3,334 screens outside the U.S. this past weekend, TOY
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...
Fox's Brain New VP Of Production At Stan Lee Media
STEPHEN L. BRAIN, former senior VP and general manager at Fox Animation
Studios has joined STAN LEE MEDIA, INC. as their new executive VP of
Production. In his new post, Brain will create Stan Lee Media's new digital
animation studio dedicated to developing Internet entertainment. Brain will
supervise the production team of storyboard artists, digital artists and
Flash animators as well as increasing Stan Lee's roster of 50 artists to
100 artists within the next 90 days. Beginning his career in 1977, Brain
This Week's Animation Trivia Quiz
Test your skills and challenge your brain with AWN's Animation Trivia Quiz...
