AWN Headline News

(Colossal) Pictures completed two 10-second Christmas IDs for Nickelodeon. The stop-motion Yummy Winter Wonderland features gingerbread people frolicking in a set made entirely of food with white frosting substituting as snow. A Weenie New Year is a brief New Years extravaganza hosted by a live-action puppet band leader Lawrence Weenie and his swingin Big Band of Weenies. Jim Matison was the director/creative director for these holiday spots.

J.J. Sedelmaier recently completed a simple 30-second spot, Filenes Turkey, promoting Filenes Basement annual charity Giant Turkey Giveaway. The spot used a stark black-ink-against-white-background style to feature a spokes-turkey who grows fatter and fatter each time the cash register rings until it fills up the entire screen. Director J.J. Sedelmaier commented about the ad, Filenes Turkey is a simple spot thats stylistically reminiscent of old black-and-white cartoons where personality carries the day over artistry.

UPN has ordered thirteen episodes of "Home Movies," a new half-hour primetime animated sitcom from Tom Snyder Productions, the producers of Comedy Central's "Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist" and ABC's Saturday morning series, "SquiggleVision" (aka "Science Court"). The series will be done in the producer's trademark production technique, "SquiggleVision" which is also used on Snyder's other shows. Tentatively scheduled to premiere in April, comedian Paula Poundstone, Brendon Small, and H.

Acclaim Entertainment has released the highly-anticipated "South Park" video game for Nintendo 64 with a PC version that will be available in January 1999. The adventure game features original dialogue recorded by Matt Stone, Trey Parker, and Issac Hayes and can be played in a single or multi-player mode. The game unfolds as a mysteriously evil comet approaches South Park causing much mayhem. It is left up to Kenny, Kyle, Stan and Cartman to save the day. All the perennial "South Park" characters pop up throughout the game including Mr. Hankey, Chef, Terrance and Phillip, and Big Gay Al.

Chris Wedge, one of the founders of Blue Sky Studios (now Blue Sky | VIFX), has released his personal film, "Bunny." The seven-minute computer-animated film utilizes "radiosity," an advanced computer rendering technique, a relative of the ray-tracing technology, that mimics subtle properties of natural light. The three-year project was written and directed by Chris Wedge, produced by Nina Rappaport, with music by singer/songwriter Tom Waits.

San Francisco-based Wild Brain has completed an in-house seven-minute short film called A Dog Cartoon, featuring a highly-energetic dog who faces many perils as he attempts to recover his coveted bone.

Hollywood Shorts, a monthly series designed to screen short films and introduce their directors to the Hollywood film community, is currently accepting animated entries for possible exhibition in upcoming programs. Submissions received by February 1, 1999 will be given first consideration for spring programming. Films must be under 30 minutes in length and submitted on VHS - NTSC only. For complete entry info, contact Kimberley Browning at Hollywood Shorts: griplace@aol.com or (310) 358-7634.

The 1999 Yorkton Short Film and Video Festival, now in its 52nd year, will take place from May 13-16, 1999 in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada. Entries to compete for the festival's Golden Sheaf Awards are now being accepted until March 5, 1999. Awards will be given to Canadian film entries in a total of nineteen film categories including: Animation, Children's Production, Arts and Entertainment, Comedy, Educational and Commercials. International filmmakers can enter works in five categories including: Children's Production, Documentary and Drama.

Disney may not have an animated film to put up against DreamWorks Prince of Egypt, but theyve come up with an ingenious way of profiting from the November release of A Bugs Life. The company announced that starting December 18th, a completely new set of animated bloopers will accompany the closing credits of the film.

As a follow-up to our 11/17/98 Animation Flash story, Canadian-based CINAR Films Inc. has changed their name to CINAR Corporation (Corporation CINAR in French) after a Special Meeting of Shareholders approved the change. The new name better reflects the diversification of the companys business activities which have expanded beyond the film industry.

The premiere of Faith Hubley's new film "Africa" is set to take place at Storyopolis on December 15th. The 10-minute film will screen at 5:00, 5:30, 6:00, and 6:30 p.m. at the New Line Cinema. A reception follows afterwards at Storyopolis from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m. Faith and Emily Hubley will be present at the reception. The screening and reception are open to the public free of charge, however, guests must RSVP by calling (310) 828-7577.

The new, futuristic "Batman Beyond" animated series is set to have a special one-hour primetime sneak preview on Sunday, January 10, 1999 from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. (EST/PST). The series will officially premiere on the Kids WB! with a special one-hour debut on Saturday morning, January 16 (time to be announced). "Batman Beyond" will move to its regular Saturday 9:30 a.m. timeslot on January 23. The show is set in the early part of the 21st century where an older and "retired" Bruce Wayne, Batman's alter ego, becomes the mentor to young teenager Terry McGinnis, a young crimefighter in training.