Rick DeMott's Recent Posts

* Sunday, April 9 - Sunday, April 16, 2000. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Comic book fans can hobnob with the best in the business on a 7 day/7 night

cruise benefiting the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a non-profit

organization protecting the First Amendment rights of the comics community.

The "Making WAVES" cruise will stop at three Mexican ports -- Puerto

Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas and Mazatlan. The event will feature week-long

Riding the wave of the box office success of STUART LITTLE, Columbia/Sony

Pictures has announced a sequel to the tiny toon. Shooting on the new film

could start as soon as this summer. The intended release date for the flick

is Christmas 2001. Producer Doug Wick is set to return, however actors,

director and screenwriter have not yet been confirmed. Sony Picture

Imageworks, who comprised the effects for the first flick, are expected to

return on the sequel. The first STUART LITTLE was directed by Rob Minkoff,

Macromedia, Inc. announced its acquisition of Time4.com, a

Minneapolis-based Net application development firm. The privately-held

business, which created a Web-based reservation system, was acquired for an

undisclosed amount. Time4.com's president and chief executive officer

Douglas K. Olson will become vice president of engineering for the

Macromedia eBusiness Solutions Group. In his new role, Olson will lead the

development of Macromedia's eBusiness Infrastructure, one of the first

In association with Children's Television Workshop and IF/X Productions,

CineGroupe will be producing 40 half-hour episodes of SAGWA, THE CHINESE

SIAMESE CAT for PBS KIDS. The series is adapted from the award-winning

children's book by Amy Tan, author of THE JOY LUCK CLUB. SAGWA follows the

title character's escapades through Ancient China. Each episode will

include 11-minute segments and related interstitials woven together by

music, folk stories and fairy tales. The executive producers of the project

Vitoria, Spain-based Mb Producciones is reaping a huge success from its new

animated series MIMI AND MR. BOBO. Since its debut on TVE, the average

share the series has received is 25.8. The show airs Saturday at 9 am and

re-runs at 8:30 am on Sundays. Mb Producciones is currently in negotiation

to create merchandise for the program with several well-known Spanish toy

and book companies. The company is also in the developing stage of a

feature based on the characters of the MIMI AND MR. BOBO series.

Spumco's John Kricfalusi will be bringing his offbeat humor to a new Fox

Kids Network series entitled, THE RIPPING FRIENDS. Scheduled to hit the air

Fall 2000, the show will follow the adventures of 4 wacked out superheros.

Kricfalusi will provide at least one of the voices for the series. This

show will be Kricfalusi's first television series since Nickelodeon booted

him off of his brain child REN AND STIMPY.

The BBC, CINAR and HALO Productions will team up to brighten the world with

the teenage angst of the new animated series TREASURE. The show follows the

teenage tribulations of Treasure, her ever-frantic mother and critical

grandmother. The series will air on BBC prime time sometime in late 2000,

early 2001. The show has also been sold to YTV in Canada. TREASURE is based

off a popular newspaper column by Michele Hanson.

San Francisco-based ATTIK has brought to the finish line the spot for the

Infogrames video game TEST DRIVE 6. In the 30-second spot entitled "Movie

Trailer," director Simon Dixon placed a live-action driver in the seat of

the high-speed graphic environment. Clips of the real life racer are

intercut with game footage. The senior producer on the project was Lisa

Laubhan and the live-action producer was Doug Lay.

On February 11, 2000, CBS will air a special celebrating the career of THE

PEANUTS creator Charles Schultz. The hour-long GOOD GRIEF, CHARLIE BROWN: A

TRIBUTE TO CHARLES SCHULTZ will be hosted by CBS' former news legend Walter

Cronkite. The special will feature clips from the PEANUTS series and

specials, plus an interview with Charles Schultz. The legendary comic strip

artist retired at the beginning of the year in order to concentrate on

beating his newly diagnosed cancer.