Category: Anime

* Saturday, October 14, 2000. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Teen Comic Age 2000 is a festival highlighting teen comic and animation artists. Presented by the Los Angeles Public Library, the event will feature portfolio reviews, comic and animation workshops, panel discussions, celebrity signings and student, computer and anime animation screenings. The festival takes place from 10 am 5:30 pm and admission is free. For more information contact the library at: Tel.: (213) 228-7510; or Web: www.lapl.org.

Mondo Media has signed GUNDAM WING character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto to design characters for an upcoming Mondo Mini Show. Currently the project is entitled SPIRAL, a sci-fi action adventure series which will be available on MondoMedia.com later this year. Kawamoto is best known for his character designs on COWBOY BEBOP, several GUNDAM series, GOLDEN BOY and the cinematics for THE GHOST IN THE SHELL video game. Also brought onto the project as key animator is Cindy Yamauchi, whose credits include AKIRA, VENUS WARS and RANMA 1/2.

Stan Lee Media, Inc. (SLM) has teamed with Venture Soft Co., Ltd., Asia's leading creator and aggregator of anime and manga, to form a joint venture that will bring SLM's superhero and fantasy story franchises to Asia. Coming on the heels of a similar deal with Fox Kids Latin America, the Asian venture will be called SLM Japan and will continue SLMs strategy to partner with strong regional communication companies to introduce its branded content via the Internet and then leveraging it into global partnerships.

With MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2 still holding on in many countries, PERFECT STORMs debut in Hong Kong and the U.K. shook up the international box office. Finishing at the top spot in the U.K., STORM grossed US$2.86 million over the weekend and $3.25 million since its Wednesday nod. Slipping to #2, STUART LITTLE grossed $2.08 million, advancing its British cume to $9.59 million. The U.K. sensation, CHICKEN RUN, amassed another $1.82 million in third, bringing its cume to $28.85 million.

* Friday, September 1 Saturday, September 30, 2000. Sydney, Australia.

With more summer blockbusters arriving in international theatres, the old guard is weaning. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2, however, is still strong, finishing atop the charts in Italy, Sweden Japan and Spain. In its second week, M:I 2 grossed another US$700,928 in Italy, raising its cume to $6.82 million. GLADIATOR is losing its power, slipping a spot in Italy to finish at #4 with a gross of $103,693, bringing its Italian cume to $8.64 million. In Sweden, GLADITOR also finished in 4th place with a gross of $217,952, advancing its cume to $3.93 million.