AWN Headline News

Sony Pictures Entertainment's (SPE) new family entertainment division (AF 03/09/99) has announced their first two development deals. The group has acquired worldwide rights to Kevin Eastman's UNDERWHERE, and has signed Eastman to develop an animated children's series based on his popular book. The series follows the adventures of 10-year-old Jacob who travels to UNDERWHERE, a land that exists in the same space as ours but can only be visited by those who possess the gift of imagination.

New York-based THE ATTIK has hired STEPHEN KINNEY as senior producer. In addition to managing creative aspects of projects and branding strategies, Kinney will focus largely on building creative resources and live-action production. Kinney, 28, joins The Attik from Pittard Sullivan (New York, NY), where from 1997-1999 he was a producer working on a variety of network broadcast branding projects including the launch package for Canadian cable sports network CTV Sportsnet, and projects for ESPN, AOL, CBS and Lifetime, among others.

The nominations for the 26th annual Daytime Emmy Awards, airing live on CBS, May 21, from New York's Madison Square Garden Theatre, have been announced. Unsurprisingly, the nomination leaders in the animation field are Warner Bros. and Disney. Among the major cartoon categories are:

Children's Animated Program:ARTHUR (PBS)DISNEY'S 101 DALMATIONS (ABC)DISNEY'S DOUG (ABC)STEVEN SPIELBERG PRESENTS: ANIMANIACS (WB)STEVEN SPIELBERG PRESENTS: PINKY & THE BRAIN (WB)

Special Class/Animated Program:

Atom Corp., a new entertainment company aiming to distribute short animated and live-action films, has opened shop. The start-up firm has already established alliances with cable networks such as HBO and Sundance Channel, online services including Disney's Go Network/Infoseek, Mr. Showbiz, Reel.com, Warner Bros. Online and Film.com, the high-speed broadband service @Home, as well as airlines such as Air New Zealand, Air Canada and Continental Airlines.

Cartoon producer NELVANA's fourth quarter results indicate a strong year in '98, due largely in part to proprietary shows...

Paramount's THE RUGRATS MOVIE has crossed the $100 million milestone at the North American box office. This makes it the first animated non-Disney film to achieve this mark. As of March 22, the domestic box office total for the film is $100,130,568. . . . Warner Bros. THE KING AND I, produced by Rich Animation, opened in North America this past weekend in 2352 theaters with a lackluster total of $4,007,565 million.

* Monday, March 22. San Francisco, California, U.S.A.

The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) has announced their 1998 Reuben Award nominees, honoring the best in the cartooning industry. The winners will be announced May 8 at the NCS Reuben Weekend in San Antonio, Texas. Among the honors are two categories recognizing individuals in the television and feature animation fields. The '98 animation nominees are:

TV Animation:Danny Antonucci (creator of ED, EDD N EDDY)Barry Caldwell (STEVEN SPIELBERG PRESENTS PINKY & THE BRAIN)Linda Miller (DISNEY'S 101 DALMATIONS: THE SERIES)

PDI has hired Arnauld Lamorlette, 34, formerly vice president and director of R&D at the Paris-based studio Buf Compagnie, to join PDI's visual effects team. Lamorlette has been named a Senior Visual Effects Developer on SHREK. Aron Warner, SHREK producer, said, "He has been brought on to PDI's team to oversee the creation of computer-generated human characters and the rich organic world they will inhabit in SHREK.

ELIZA MCLATCHY has been named associate producer at Boston-based LOCONTE GOLDMAN DESIGN. In this post, McLatchy will work with senior producers and operations to develop and maintain the structure of projects. She will also serve as the liaison between creative personnel and the operations department. Prior to joining LoConte Goldman, McLatchy, 24, freelanced for the company on a variety of projects including "ESPN Speedworld," Romance Classics Network "Fire & Ice Valentine's Special," and a corporate image video for Lotus Development Corporation.

Chicago, Illinois-based TRICKY PICTURES has produced a 20-second main title animation sequence for Nickelodeon's I AM POEM series. In addition, Belgian director and animator Dirk van de Vondel, represented by Tricky Pictures, was selected from more than 200 candidates to create a visual adaptation of "I Used To Be," one of the 15 poems in the series. Produced by Nickelodeon's Creative Lab to serve as interstitial programming, I AM POEM is a new series of short-form films based on original kids' poetry.