AWN Headline News

Michel Ocelot's new feature film, KIRIKOU AND THE SORCERESS, will bescreened as part of the DGA (Directors Guild of America) film festival,City of Lights: A Week of French Films. The screening will take placeSaturday, May 1 at 1 pm in Los Angeles, California. For ticket information,call (310) 289 2000. There are currently no plans to release the film inthe USA, so this may be your only chance to see what appears to be, basedon the pressbook images, a very beautiful film. The story is based on

ImagineAsia Studios, the Manila, Philippines-based 3D animation studio, announced the hiring of two U.S.-based executives in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Chairman Jeffrey Harrison appointed JAMES MYHRE to the post of Director of Development & Marketing, and IVAN ROTH as the studio's new Creative Director. Myhre will oversee operations in ImagineAsia's corporate headquarters in San Francisco. Roth will divide his time between Los Angeles and the studio's main facility in Metro Manila.

Released last week in the USA, Pixar's A BUG'S LIFE was the week's bestselling video and DVD title, selling enough copies to already put it at No.4 on the list of the year's best selling videos, and No. 10 on the list ofthe year's best selling DVD's. (There are no plans to release the Pixarfilm on laser disc.) It is already ahead of ANTZ and just behind THERUGRATS MOVIE, but farther behind MULAN. Other best selling VHS titles forthe week include THE RUGRATS MOVIE, which finished third; SCOOBY-DOO'S

Walt Disney Co.'s earnings plunged almost 41% in its second quarter. Although Disney said it expects improvement in the second half of the year, it still plans to review its operations in a bid to make them more efficient and increase cash flow. The Burbank, California-based media and entertainment giant turned in net income of $226 million, or 11 cents a diluted share, for the quarter ending March 31, compared with $384 million, or 18 cents a diluted share, in the same period a year ago.

Nickelodeon has announced that, following in the wake of the success of THERUGRATS MOVIE, another Klasky Csupo produced TV series, THE WILD THORNBERRYS, will get its own shot at the big screen. The film will have abudget of at least $25 million and release is expected in 2002. THE WILD THORNBERRYS is currently the most popularanimated TV series on Nickelodeon.

THE MATRIX, the special effects heavy action film starring Keanu Reeves,returned to the number one spot at the US box office last weekend andgrossed an estimated $12.6 million to bring its cumulative gross to $117million.

Pixar Animation Studios' revenues for the first quarter were $3.4 millioncompared with $5.0 million in the first quarter of 1998. Net income for thefirst quarter was $900,000 compared with $3.8 million for the first quarterof 1998. Diluted earnings per share for the first quarter were $0.02compared with $0.08 for the first quarter of 1998.

A BUG'S LIFE has earned $162 million in domestic box office receipts and$190 million in international box office receipts, totaling $352 million

Nickelodeon will preview SP0NGEBOB SQUAREPANTS, a new animated series, onMay 1 at 9:30 ET/PT in the USA. The cartoon features the adventures ofSpongeBob, a hopelessly optimistic and earnest sea sponge. Creator andexecutive producer Steve Hillenburg (ROCKO'S MODERN LIFE, THE GREEN BERET,WORMHOLES), studied art and marine biology before earning a degree from CalArts in Experimental Animation. Soon you will be able to visit Nick.com formore information about the series.

Tom Sito will host an evening with Phil Mendez on Wednesday, April 28 at7:30 pm. Phil is one of the pioneering African American artists in Americananimation, a designer, author, director and storyteller. He was Marc Davis'assistant at Disney during the development of some of the his famousattractions at Disneyland. He has done work for Disney Feature Animation,Hanna-Barbera, Jack Zander, and Phil Kimmelman, and he was with RalphBakshi at the beginning of FRITZ THE CAT and HEAVY TRAFFIC. Don't miss this

The California Sun Festival, which took place at California StateUniversity Northridge on April 10 - 11, handed out the following awards:

The Golden Sun (Best of the Festival) went to Hannes Rall, Germany, for"Der Rabe" (The Raven), an 8-minute film freely adapted from the poem "TheRaven" by Edgar Allen Poe.

The Silver Stars (Best in each Category) wentto:

Traditional Animation: Andrea Guaraldo, Italy, for "Soffioni"

Computer Animation: Heiko Lueg, Germany, for "Sandland"

Tricky Pictures has created "One and Only," a promo for the new Noggin TVnetwork. Noggin is an educational channel that is a joint venture betweenNickelodeon and Children's Television Workshop, and is currently subscribedto by nearly two million homes. The spot uses mixed-media and incorporatesfaces of real children with painted bodies in an outer space scene wherethe Noggin logo doubles as a planet being explored. The kids plant a flagon the planet, which doubles as a face. Ann Marie Fleming designed and