PHIL ROMAN has resigned from his post as chairman of the animation studio he founded, Film Roman, the company announced on Friday, February 12. Roman founded the company in 1984 which has since produced numerous series including GARFIELD, BOBBY'S WORLD, THE SIMPSONS, KING OF THE HILL and FELIX THE CAT.
Comedian and former SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE cast member Adam Sandler (THE WATERBOY, THE WEDDING SINGER) has signed with Columbia TriStar (a division of Sony Pictures) to develop a full-length animated musical comedy featuring a character based on him. Sandler, who is producing the film with his partner, Jack Giarraputo, will also voice the title character.
On Saturday, March 6, Sothebys of New York will hold an auction selling animation artwork from Disneys MULAN. One hundred fifty-seven pieces of art (140 animation cel set-ups, 9 character models and 8 publishing illustrations) will be for sale. Since the film was painted digitally and no cels were used, the hand-painted, hand-inked cel set-ups were specially created for the auction by Disney artists and are accompanied by original backgrounds or production overlays that were used in the film.
Helium Productions has produced a complete graphics package for Fox Network in collaboration with design company Big Media Group. Helium produced 19 minutes of 3D animation which is shown in IDs for "Just One Fox," menu beds and on-air promo material including opens, closes and backgrounds for all talent IDs.
CG Animation Director, Technical Dirctor and Senior CG Animators positions available at Montreal-based Cactus Animation
This week's comic unveils the strange and mysterious allure of an exotic woman...
Featured in the Animation World Store this week: The Aardman Collection and Special Offer on Limited Editions...
ASIFA-Hollywood has announced the seminar program for the upcoming Animation Expo...
CBS has renewed three NELVANA childrens series and placed 13-episode orders for three new series to debut this fall. Returning this fall for a second season are ANATOLE, FLYING RHINO JUNIOR HIGH and MYTHIC WARRIORS: GUARDIANS OF THE LEGEND. The new Nelvana series, all of which are designed to meet the FCC mandate, are BLASTER, RESCUE HEROS and THE NEW TALES FROM THE CRYPTKEEPER. The three NELVANA series that CBS cancelled are BIRDZ, FRANKLIN and DUMB BUNNIES.
Buena Vista International Television (BVI-TV) has signed a first-time volume agreement with NELVANA Enterprises (Paris) to air their programs on Disney Channel in Spain and Italy. BVI-TV will have first rights to NELVANAs production slate for Spain and Italy, acquiring between two and four new series a year. Disney Channel currently plans to air the following NEVLANA titles: NEDS NEWT (Spain), FRANKLIN (Italy, Spain), STICKIN AROUND (Italy, Spain), SAM AND MAX (Spain), LITTLE BEAR (Italy), JAKE AND THE KID (Italy), BIRDZ (Spain) and Rupert (Spain).
Cartoons on the Bay, taking place in Positano, Italy from April 20-24, is currently accepting entries until the February 22 deadline. The festival presents the Pulcinella Awards to animated series of all lengths and animated TV movies. For entry forms, call 39 0637 4983 15, fax 39 0637 3535 21 or visit http://www.raitrade.rai.it/cartoonsbay.
The 15th Annual San Diego International Film Festival is currently accepting entries for their Animation Celebration evening in May. There is no entry fee; however, there will be a cash prize for the top film. Send video cassettes to:
Animation CelebrationSan Diego International Film FestivalDept 0078, UCSD9500 Gilman DriveLa Jolla, CA92093-0078
For further information, call 619-534-0497 or e-mail rbaily@ucsd.edu.
Another AWN Exclusive - clips and images all 1999 Animated Short Oscar Nominees...
AWN's free Winter '99 Animation School Directory is your complete, indispensablereference guide to over 400 animation related schools and educationalprograms, from 34 countries...
Herbert "Herb" Klynn, a pioneer in motion picture and television animation, passed away on February 3 at the age of 81. Combining graphic design and artistic talents, he worked at UPA from 1944 to 1959 on classic characters like Mr. Magoo, Madeline and Gerald McBoing-Boing, eventually rising to become the studio's Vice President and Production Chief. In 1959, he founded Format Productions with Jules Engel and was responsible for the creation of such popular animation series as THE ALVIN SHOW, THE LONE RANGER, and THE CURIOSITY SHOP, a collaboration with director Chuck Jones.
The hit Japanese show POKéMON, currently in syndication in the U.S. and exclusively on Kids WB! next season, has been sold to Televisa (Mexico) and Record-TV (Brazil). Both networks will premiere the show in April/May as a five-day-a-week program. The show has also been sold to numerous other Latin American broadcasters including Magic TV and Channel 11 (Argentina), Etcetera and Chilevision Channel 6 (Chile), Caracol (Colombia), Telecorporation (El Salvador), Televicentro (Honduras), Frecuencia Latina (Peru) and Venevision (Venezuela).
Todd MacFarlane, creator of the comic book and late-night HBO animated series, SPAWN, revealed he was the anonymous person that bought baseball star Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball at a recent auction for over $3 million dollars. MacFarlane, who has had a lifelong love of the game, said that he will have the ball mounted in a glass case and tour the country speaking to kid groups about baseball.
Cable network FX has ordered 13 episodes of their first-ever animated comedy series, THE DICK AND PAULA CELEBRITY SPECIAL, produced by Tom Snyder Productions. The show, set to premiere in spring '99, will use a derivation of Snyder Productions' trademark computer-generated process, "SquiggleVision." The weekly half-hour series is about the behind-the-scenes goings on of a husband-and-wife talk show team (Dick and Paula). They interview contemporary stars, fictionalized characters and major historical figures.
ASIFA-Hollywood has announced more details about their Animation Expo taking place March 5-6, 1999 at the Glendale Civic Auditorium and Glendale Community College.
Disney is going all out for their release of FANTASIA 2000 by launching anexclusive four-month run of the film in IMAX theaters around the world fromJanuary 1 through April 30, 2000. The updated version will debut with afive-city, London Philharmonic Orchestra-accompanied tour starting inDecember 1999. The tour, which will pass through Los Angeles, London, Paris andTokyo, will have its world premiere December 17 at Carnegie Hall in NewYork City with a concert by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. In addition,
UPN has renewed the animated comedy, DILBERT, for a second season of 22episodes to air in the 191999/2000 television season. In the three episodesthat have aired so far, DILBERT has been UPN's top new comedy this seasonin household ratings and all key adult and male demographics. "This pickuporder rewards the ratings' promise Dilbert has shown, with strongdemographics and a bull's-eye for our target of young male viewers," statedTom Nunan, UPN Entertainment President.
Pixar Animation Studios took a bit of a dip in the fourth quarter while still awaiting the cash flow from their latest blockbuster feature A BUG'S LIFE. The company reported fourth-quarter profits of $1.1M for the period ending January 2, down from $4.4M for the same period in 1997. Quarterly revenues dropped from $7.1M to 3.1M, with revenue generated from sales of services and tools to other producers in Hollywood, as well as proceeds trickling in from their first film TOY STORY (1995).
Milia '99- the International Content Market for Interactive Media will take place at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France from February 9-12. Milia is an international event that connects all facets of on-line/off-line interactive content by bringing together over 1000 on-line, gaming, multimedia, television, satellite and telecom companies from 57 countries.
For the first time since the October 2 release of "Antz," there were no animated films in the box office top ten. DreamWorks' THE PRINCE OF EGYPT is still the top animated film placing 11th with $1.9M and a grand total of $93.3M domestically. The film's total worldwide gross to date is $197.8M. Disney/Pixar's A BUG'S LIFE placed 15th with $1.4M bringing its spectacular sum to $155.9M in North America. Worldwide, the insect film has brought in a total of $213.1M and is still going strong. The film's opening in the U.K.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has announced the Academy Award/Oscar nominees for films made in 1998. The nominees in the Best Animated Short Film category are:
JOLLY ROGER, an Astley Baker production directed by Mark Baker.
THE CANTERBURY TALES, an S4C production written and executive directed by Jonathan Myerson.
BUNNY, a Blue Sky Studios production written and directed by Chris Wedge.
WHEN LIFE DEPARTS, an A Films Aps production directed by Karsten Killerich and Stefan Fjeldmark.
