AWN Headline News

At San Francisco's MacWorld which ran from January 4-8, NewTek introduced

LightWave [6], the product's most significant upgrade in 10 years. The new

version of the already popular 3D tool boasts more new features than ever

introduced to the product in previous upgrades, many of which have never

been seen on the Macintosh system before. On the modeling side of things,

LightWave [6] introduces a whole new modeling paradigm, which gives users

control over the manipulation and animation of their models to a degree

Alias|Wavefront announced that they would be developing a version of their

Maya software for Intel's forthcoming IA-64 Itanium processor, and

Microsoft's 64-bit Windows NT operating system. The IA-64 operating system

uses a 64-bit architecture and offers the robust performance required by

data-intensive 3D visualizations and computer graphics. Alias|Wavefront is

among the first software developers to port their software to Itanium, and

in doing so it will allow its customers to take full advantage of the speed

On Wednesday, January 12, 2000, The Walt Disney Co. announced that Joe

Roth, their movie studio chairman, was resigning to form an independent

film company. He will be replaced by studio president Peter Schneider. Roth

assumed the chairman position in August 1994 after the departure of veteran

Disney executive Jeffrey Katzenberg. During his tenure, Roth helped Disney

lead rivals at the U.S. box office in terms of market share, with help from

Sony's hit film STUART LITTLE remained at the top of the U.S. box office

this past weekend taking in US$11.21 million in ticket sales. The

giant-sized flick, with primary FX by Sony Pictures Imageworks, additional

animation by CFX and Rhythm & Hues, and miniatures by Thunderstone, has

taken home a little more than cheese with a total purse of $95.3 million.

THE GREEN MILE squeaks by live-action flick THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY to

secure the second spot on the box office charts. The Warner Bros. flick,

BRUCE GIONET has become BLACK LOGIC's new CGI Supervisor. Gionet will lead

the New York-based company's artists in the production of computer

generated imagery for film, television and advertising. For the last eight

years, Gionet was the Director of CGI at Cyclotron/Post Perfect in New York

City. His credits range from his work on the opening of THE LATE SHOW WITH

DAVID LETTERMAN to Emmy-winning design on WWOR New York's News opening.

Kellogg's Froot Loops spokesman Toucan Sam comes to life with help from

Santa Monica-based SIMEX STUDIOS for a new spot entitled "Time Flies." The

spot highlights the new 2000 Marshmallow Blasted Froot Loops by blasting

Toucan Sam through the air with an explosion of marshmallow "2s". SimEx

produced the spot for ad agency Leo Burnett of Chicago. The SimEx team on

the commercial was animation producer Christina Cox, animation director

Jean Perramon, live-action producer Bob McGinness and live-action director

New York-based SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION produced the 3D animation and visual

FXs for the newest Proctor & Gamble's Millstone Coffee spots. The 30 second

and two 15 second commercials entitled "Own the Mug" features a ceramic

coffee cup morphing into a boat. The spots were produced for New York ad

agency D'Arcy, Masius, Benton & Bowles. Tony Robins directed and Simone

Pillinger produced the commercials for Spontaneous Combustion. The spots

will continue to air through April 2000.

Over the holiday break Holland-based ComicHouse started its move to a new

home. After spending fifteen years in Amsterdam, the animation house has

taken root in Holland's largest nature reserve "DeVeluwe." The new base of

operations will give ComicHouse the needed workspace and client

accessibility that was lacking in the confines of the city. The company

will re-open again in Ooserbeek on January 10, 2000. For more information

contact ComicHouse at: Stationsweg 20, 6861 EH Oosterbeek, The Netherlands;

RING OF FIRE provided the fx for the newest Ericsson T-28 mobile phone ad

entitled "Aliens." Ring of Fire produced the spot for Stockholm ad agency

Hall & Cederquist. The international 30 second spot beams down aliens to a

man deserted on an island. The aliens mistake the phone for intelligent

life (like most humans do in Los Angeles) and wonder whether or not the

device will taste like chicken. Jerry Spivack was Creative Director for

Ring of Fire and Kevin Prendiville served as Visual Effects Supervisor.

Starting January 1, 2000, Looney Toons Sylvester and Tweety hit the air,

that's the friendly skies, when Delta Air Lines began presenting Cartoon

Network's pigskin parody, BIG GAME: SYLVESTER VS. TWEETY during its

in-flight entertainment. Select domestic flights will show highlights from

BIG GAME, a Cartoon Network parody special featuring classic cartoon

episodes along with analysis by Jerry Glanville, Nick Buonoconti and Len

Dawson of HBO's INSIDE THE NFL. These football personalities break down the

Disney's CEO Michael Eisner delivered a four-part strategy for improving

the entertainment giant's slumping fiscal achievements. The Y2K plan

includes agressively attacking trouble spots, squeezing more profits out of

exsisting businesses, expanding those current businesses' affairs and

continuing development of new products. The seemingly Business 101 strategy

also includes annual savings of up to $300 million from changes in

purchasing. Eisner said cost-cutting efforts in live-action film production