AWN Headline News

Animated films played a very big role at this weekend's box office whichsaw strong performances from three animated features. After eight weeks,"ANTZ" remained in the Top 10 at No. 9 pulling in $2.3 million. "A Bug'sLife" was impressive in its one-theater debut in Hollywood, California'shistoric El Capitan theater grossing an amazing $291,000 during theweekend. This opening set house records at the El Capitan according tosources at Buena Vista. The biggest story this weekend though was

Laurie Goldberg has been named vice president of public relations atCartoon Network. She will oversee all publicity and public relations forCartoon Network including programming, consumer and cable affiliatemarketing campaigns, Cartoon Network Online, Cartoon Network Enterprises(NASCAR and SMASH tennis) and the network's licensed promotions andmerchandising. She joins the network from Pinnacle Brands, Inc., a sportstrading card company in Dallas, where she also served as vice president ofpublic relations.

Canadian company, Cinar Films Inc., recently announced that they would like to change their corporate name to CINAR Corporation (in French, Corporation Cinar). A Management Proxy Circular was sent to shareholders announcing a Special Shareholder Meeting to be held at the company headquarters in Montreal on December 10, 1998 to vote on the intended name change. The new name was proposed to better reflect the company's diversification into other areas of children's entertainment and education besides the film industry.

The newest incarnation of the successful animated Batman franchise, "Batman Beyond," is set for a U.S. premiere of Saturday, January 16, 1999 at 9:30 AM on Kids WB! The show takes place in the 21st century when a mature Bruce Wayne decides it's time to train a younger Caped Crusader to keep Gotham safe. Another highly anticipated comic-turned-cartoon series, "Dilbert," is set for a U.S. premiere on UPN's prime time lineup Monday, January 25, 1999 at 8:00 PM (PT/ET).

E-greetings Network (http://www.egreetings.com), a provider of internet-based electronic greetings has unveiled the new E-greetings Animations. The free digital greetings can be personalized and sent to anyone by e-mail. "When we started our company nearly five years ago, we saw that e-mail had the potential to become a multimedia entertainment and communications medium that could provide far more than the limited capabilities of standard text-only e-mail," says E-greetings Network's co-founder Tony Levitan.

The 26th annual Annie Awards ceremony, ASIFA-Hollywood's honoring of the best in animation, took place last Friday, November 13, at the historic Alex Theatre in Glendale, California. Disney's "Mulan" finished at the top of the pack winning ten out of the thirty categories, while Warner Bros. Television Animation was honored with six Annies. The awards, hosted by comedian Jay Thomas, will be televised on the Fox Family Channel sometime in December. Click here for a complete list of winners...

Los Angeles-based Rough Draft Studios has been awarded five episodes of the animated "Baby Blues" series. Thirteen episodes of "Baby Blues" have been ordered and will air in fall '99 on the WB prime time schedule. The first eight episodes are being completed by Warner Bros. Television Animation. This recent development fuels rumors that Warner Bros. Television Animation is in the midst of cutbacks. Inside sources have said that Warners will cease production on "Histeria!" after only 52 episodes, cutting 13 previously announced half hours.

Toronto-based Nelvana has acquired the worldwide development, production,distribution and merchandise licensing rights to "Puff the Magic Dragon."Based on a classic folk song written by Peter Yarrow of the legendary folkgroup Peter, Paul & Mary and Lenny Lipton, Nelvana will produce an animated"Puff the Magic Dragon" feature length film, television series andtelevision special, as well as license all Puff merchandise. Productionwill begin on this property in late 1999 or 2000. The lyrical children's

* Tuesday, November 17 - Thursday, November 19. Encino, California,U.S.A.

"Bunny," a new computer-animated short film written and directed by BlueSky | VIFX founder Chris Wedge with music by Tom Waits, will be screenedfor three days at Laemmle's Town Center 5 for Academy Award qualification.The film uses a new computer application called "Radiosity" that mimics themost subtle properties of natural light. Show times are 11:15 and 11:30 AMdaily. For further screening information, contact (818) 981-9811.

Toronto-based TOPIX/MAD DOG produced a 30-second spot for Ford of Canada which added a twist on the classic 'Three Little Pigs' story utilizing live-action integrated with cel animation. While the CGI work was done at TOPIX/Mad Dog, Chuck Gammage of Chuck Gammage Animation directed the 2D animation. In the ad, the pigs find refuge from the wolf in a 1999 Ford Windstar.

Motional Realms, LLC has released the ReelMotion plug-in for 3D Studio MAX, a real-time, physics-based procedural animation tool. The plug-in is designed for the professional animation artist and ideal for forensics animation, animating space and aerial dogfights, cars, helicopters and other rigid-body objects. It's possible to drive or fly a vehicle through a scene interactively using a mouse or joystick via a real-time display using QuickDraw 3D (Mac) or OpenGL (Windows).