"Independent" Disney's First Quarter Results
The Walt Disney Company has announced its financial results for its
operations excluding its Internet business, GO.com. Disney pro forma
diluted earnings per share excluding GO.com were $0.25 for the quarter
ended December 31, 1999, a 9% increase over the prior year. Disney revenues
increased 5% to $6.8 billion and operating income increased 8% to $1.1
billion. Excluding the retained interest in GO.com, net income increased 7%
to $515 million. Broadcasting results for the quarter were driven up by
Toy Story 2 Grabs The Globe
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association's Golden Globes Awards shocked the
world by naming TOY STORY 2 the best comedy or musical picture of 1999. The Woody and Buzz Lightyear feature beat out heavy-weight live-action films like: favored best flick, BEING JOHN MALKOVICH; Robert DeNiro and Billy Crystal's ANALYZE THIS; the Andy Kaufman bio-pic, MAN ON THE MOON; and mega-hit Julia Roberts-vehicle, NOTTING HILL. However, even though TOY
STORY 2 took home the honors, the television broadcast producers didn't
Disney Promotes Iger, Forms Exec Committee
On January 24, 2000, Robert A. Iger was named president and chief operating
officer of The Walt Disney Co. as well as a member of its board of
directors. Previously, Iger served as chairman of the Disney-owned ABC
Group and president of Walt Disney International, Disney's overseas
business division. Michael Eisner, Walt Disney's chairman and CEO, also
announced the promotion of Chief Strategic Officer Peter E. Murphy and
Chief Financial Officer Thomas O. Staggs, to the positions of senior
digitalcharactergroup Celebrates First Anniversary
SOUTH PARK producer David Niles White and SPACE JAM's producer Ron Tippe
are celebrating the first year anniversary of their digital animation
house, digitalcharactergroup. Previously White was the vice president of
digital animation at Film Roman. Working in the industry for over 20 years,
White has designed the multi-media projects that have brought Mattel's
Barbie to life and played a key role in bringing SOUTH PARK to the small
screen. The 27-year industry vet, Tippe, produced Disney's Academy
Lacroix Fades From Fantome
Fantome, one of Europe's premier producers of 3D animation, was founded in
1985 by Georges Lacroix. Fantome has gained an international reputation,
and garnered more than 40 international prizes, including an Emmy. Its most
notable credits are: THE GEOMETRIC FABLES (50 x 3 minutes), the first
computer-generated animation series ever made, and INSEKTORS (26 x 13 min)
which has sold in more than 160 countries. In 1998 after being faced with
Edit Concepts Promotes Reisner
Assistant editor JESSE REISNER has moved up to editor at New York-based
EDITING CONCEPTS. Reisner holds a BFA degree in visual arts from Brown
University. Despite his impressive academic career, he credits the staff at
Editing Concepts with the bulk of his education and technical experience.
Reisner's first national spot "Puppy Love," for Casio via Della
Femina/Jeary and Partners, debuted recently. His earlier work includes
regional spots for Bob Stores (KGA Advertising, CT, Spencer Antle
CYBERWORLD Nets Paul Lypaczewski
CYBERWORLD INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION, a new-media company, has announced
that PAUL LYPACZEWSKI has joined the company as senior vice president of
strategic business & product development. Lypaczewski will oversee the
strategic business and product development group within CYBERWORLD to
further develop the company's software technology. Lypaczewski will also
help build strategic industry relationships to help make CYBERWORLD the
dominant provider of interactive Internet-based multimedia. Lypaczewski
RE:Vision Effects Announced ReelSmart Motion Blur
RE:Vision Effects recently released ReelSmart Motion Blur, a plug-in for
After Effects 4.0, Commotion 2.0+ and Final Cut Pro. The plug-in is
designed to apply more natural looking motion blur to effects shots and
video sequences within After Effects. ReelSmart Motion Blur automatically
tracks every pixel in the shot which takes the handy-work out of the
process. Features include reduced strobing, fewer artifacts, and a tool
which lets one blur one image sequence using the motion of another
BOXX Delivers RenderBOXX
BOXX Technologies recently unveiled their RenderBOXX NT and Linux rendering
system, which relies on Intel Pentium III 800MHz processors to 'bolster'
rendering times. Currently shipping is the RenderBOXX 4000 series with
single or dual processors, and a price tag starting from US$2365. The focus
of the 4000 series is to streamline workflow for visual effects and video
game professionals, and because RenderBOXX is very easy to set, has a
completely open rendering system (it does not require special rendering
Outlook 2000 For Acclaim
Acclaim Entertainment Inc., a leading worldwide developer, publisher and
mass marketer of software for use with interactive entertainment, reported
its results for the first quarter of fiscal 2000 ended November 30, 1999.
Net revenues for the quarter were $101.2 million, compared with $104.8
million in the first quarter of the prior year. Net earnings for the
quarter were $0.4 million, or $0.01 per diluted share, compared with net
earnings of $10.3 million or $0.16 per diluted share for the same period in
Scandinavia Surrenders To Pokemania
Three new Scandinavian markets surrendered their airwaves to Pokemania.
Worldwide sensation POKEMON was recently sold to TV4 in Sweden, TV2 in
Denmark and TV2 in Norway. The show will hit the new territories in January
and February 2000. Lacey Entertainment, the international distributors of
the series, also announced the sale of the Pikachu-vehicle to ATV in Turkey
and Noga Communications' Children's Channel in Israel. In Europe, POKEMON
began broadcasting in September 1999 on Germany's RTL2, The Netherlands'
Grammy's Toon Tunes
The U.S. Recording Academy's premiere recording awards, the Grammies, have
put out their list of nominees and many toon-related tunes have made an
appearance. Nominations in the category Best Musical Album For Children
were: "The Adventures Of Elmo In Grounchland," "A Bug's Life Song-Along"
and Walt Disney's "Mannhein Steamroller Meet The Mouse." Best Spoken Word
Album For Children nominees include "A Bug's Life Read-Along" and Sesame
Street's "Let's Eat!" THE PRINCE OF EGYPT and TARZAN were included in the
ORAD Arrives At Seneca
Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology in Canada has become the
first institution to bring ORAD video technology into the classroom.
Originally designed for the Israeli military's virtual reality training,
ORAD places real-time people into a virtual set. The ORAD system removes
the bluescreen behind a person and replaces it with a computer-generated
environment. Located at the Seneca York campus, students in the television
broadcasting, 3D arts and advertising programs will have the opportunity to
Hall Heads To Cartoon Network
CARTOON NETWORK has named TIMOTHY HALL their new executive vice president.
Hall will be responsible for integrating marketing to popularize the
network's brand in the U.S. and globally, and creating new business around
the world. Prior to Cartoon Network, Hall was senior vice president of
boys' toys marketing and product development at Hasbro, Inc. Hall was
responsible for the overall strategic direction, marketing and product
development of Star Wars toys and games, among other brands. He began his
Robinson New VP At Disney
CLAIRE ROBINSON has been named senior vice president, intellectual property
law, for THE WALT DISNEY CO. Robinson will oversee Disney's intellectual
property group, which is responsible for intellectual property matters for
the company and its subsidiaries worldwide. Previously, Robinson held the
position of vice president in the same department. Before joining Disney in
1989, she was with the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Washington,
New Visual To Impact The Web
New Visual Entertainment, Inc., a 3D production company specializing in 3D
product development and distribution for special venue theaters, home
video, broadcast, and theatrical markets, has announced its completed
acquisition of Impact Pictures, Inc., a small San Diego-based multi-media
production house specializing in Web animation, streaming media and
high-end CD-ROM corporate presentations, in a stock for stock transaction.
New Visual plans to utilize the creative hardware and staffing assets of
Quickband Broadens Roster
QUICKBAND NETWORKS, a leading distributor of short-form entertainment, has
signed KIM ADELMAN as editor of SHORT, a compilation of award-winning
live-action, animated, experimental and documentary short films distributed
exclusively on DVD. The company also promoted CRAIG WELLS to director of
acquisitions. Kim Adelman joins QuickBand Networks from fXM: Movies From
Fox. At the Fox-owned movie network, Adelman launched the short film
division, fXM Shorts. During her tenure at fXM, Adelman produced 19 films,
Metv.com Brings In Film-Buyer Reweda
METV.COM, a new Internet video-on-demand company, opens its feature film
licensing drive with the arrival of veteran film-buyer JOHN REWEDA as vice
president of content acquisition. "John's (Reweda) expertise will play a
key role in establishing contact with the leading movie studios and
independents as we move toward our June 2000 consumer launch date," said
Martin French, MeTV.com senior vice president. Reweda will help the
fledgling business develop and obtain content for its MeTV.com Web site,
Sinagra Signs Radium
3D animator ANDREW SINAGRA has joined the computer graphics team at San
Francisco-based RADIUM. With specialties including modeling, particle
effects and volumetric effects, Sinagra will be involved in creating 3D
animation and visual effects for commercials and music videos. Sinagra
joins Radium from Midland Productions, a Berkeley, CA-based computer
animation house specializing in special venue films, feature films and
commercials. While at Midland, Sinagra created 3D animation for ROBOTS OF
Animha Productions' Suspended Animation
Animha Productions, a unique association of professionals dedicated to
independent film production and animation workshops, presents: Suspended
Animation...
TAIS Presents: Creating Appealing Cartoon Characters
TAIS, the Toronto Animated Image Society, will present "Creating Appealing
Cartoon Characters" with Peter Emslie...
New at Visual Magic Magazine
Visual Magic Magazine, AWN's 3D animation and digital effects online
magazine, has posted a new article:
"The Buzz About Flash 4." Flash 4
claims to be the ultimate tool for web animation...and quite frankly, it
probably is.
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...
This Week's Animation Trivia Quiz
Test your skills and challenge your brain with AWN's Animation Trivia Quiz...
A Closer Look: Pokemania, Who's Next?
Three new Scandinavian markets surrendered their airwaves to Pokemania.
Worldwide sensation Pokemon was recently sold to TV4 in Sweden, TV2 in
Denmark and TV2 in Norway. The show will hit the new territories in January
and February 2000. The international distributor, Lacey Entertainment, also
announced the sale of the Pikachu-vehicle to ATV in Turkey and Noga
Communications' Children's Channel in Israel.
The Pokemon phenomenon began in America in 1998 with the release of the
