June 17, 2002

Welcome to the latest edition of the Todd McFarlane Update, and a special welcome to the new members joining us today. If you've never received an update before, please read on for the latest news from the world of Todd McFarlane: information about Todd, company events, product news, the latest highlights from the McFarlane group of companies and our Web site, Spawn.com (http://www.spawn.com).

'TODD MCFARLANE SHOW' GOES LIVE ON MLB.COM - WEEKLY MLB RADIO INTERNET SHOW HITS THE 'AIR' JUNE 21
Todd McFarlane has made "the Show," finally achieving his dream of a Major League Baseball career... as the host of his own weekly radio show on MLB.com, the official Web site of Major League Baseball.

Two decades after lacing up his cleats and taking the field for the Seattle Mariner's minor league system, Todd will take to the Internet radio airwaves for the Todd McFarlane Show, scheduled to air live every Friday at 3 p.m. Eastern/noon Pacific. He will be joined by MLB Radio's Seth Everett, who returns for his second season as a host on the network.

Check out the whole story at http://spawn.com/news/news020614a.html.

'ALTAR BOYS' OPENS TODAY IN SELECT THEATERS - SUNDANCE CHANNEL'S 'ANATOMY OF SCENE' FEATURES TODD SUNDAY
The Hollywood hype has been steadily building for The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, which opens today in select cities and debuts on screens across North America over the next several weeks. Beginning today, the film can be seen in the Los Angeles area and New York City. On June 21, the film will open at dozens of theaters across the country and in Canada, with additional showings debuting throughout June and July.

So far, the media coverage has been positive, with everyone from USA Today to Rosie O'Donnell giving the film praise. June 13, Jodie Foster, who both stars in and produced the film, appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman and complimented Todd's animation, after showing a promotional clip.

On the heels of the film's opening, the Sundance Channel's Anatomy of a Scene series focused on Altar Boys Sunday, June 16. There are several repeat showings.

A crew from the cable channel interviewed Todd at the spawn.com headquarters recently. During the nearly two-hour interview, Todd was asked to discuss a pivotal point in the film known as the "dead dog scene." The scene mixes live action featuring stars Kieran Culkin and Emile Hirsch with animated sequences by Todd that bring the actors' fantasy universe to life. This scene is similar to several others that transition between live action and animation.

Anatomy of Scene goes inside the creative process of filmmaking. In each episode, the director, along with the crew and cast, dissect a pivotal scene from a film currently in theaters. Storyboards, out-takes and sketches reveal the challenges and collaboration that goes into making a cinematic moment. More information about the show as well as air dates and times are available at http://www.sundancechannel.com/anatomy/.

For the full spawn.com story, including a listing of North American theatres showing the film, click here http://spawn.com/news/news020614b.html.

MLB SERIES 2 FIGURES HEADING TO STORES - SECOND OFFICIAL BASEBALL LINE FEATURES NINE PLAYERS
McFarlane's Sports Picks: MLB Series 2 is on the move and due to hit retail stores by the end of June. As always, each of the nine players in the line is fully detailed in an action pose with official team uniform, equipment and custom base.

Featuring a nice mix of offensive and defensive players, the line contains:

• Nomar Garciaparra, Boston Red Sox shortstop, No. 5
• Alex Rodriguez, Texas Rangers shortstop, No. 3
• Roger Clemens, New York Yankees pitcher, No. 22
• Kerry Wood, Chicago Cubs pitcher, No. 34
• Ken Griffey Jr., Cincinnati Reds center fielder, No. 30
• Greg Maddux, Atlanta Braves pitcher, No. 31
• Derek Jeter, New York Yankees shortstop, No. 2
• Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants left fielder, No. 25
• Manny Ramirez, Boston Red Sox designated hitter, No. 24

IN THE NEWS

NEW TRU CANADA HOCKEY EXCLUSIVES
http://spawn.com/news/news020607a.html

TODD ATTENDS 'ALTAR BOYS' PREMIERE
http://spawn.com/news/news020607c.html

NFL 5 OFFICIAL LINEUP ANNOUNCED
http://spawn.com/news/news020531a.html

EXCLUSIVE SPAWN TWO-PACK
http://spawn.com/news/news020531d.html

SPAWN SERIES 22 FEATURE 6.14.02
http://spawn.com/news/news020614d.html

SPAWN ANNIVERSARY FEATURE ONLINE
http://spawn.com/features/spawn10th/index.html

FIRST NEW NFL4 PHOTOS SHOWN
http://spawn.com/news/news020426b.html

FINAL NHL SERIES 3 PHOTOS REVEALED
http://spawn.com/news/news020510c.html

ASH/EVIL ASH TWO-PACK ANNOUNCED
http://spawn.com/news/news020517b.html

ALSO ON SPAWN.COM

TOP 10 LISTS
http://www.spawn.com/news.html
(Every Monday, check out the link on the left side of the News section for box office news, video and CD sales, humorous e-mails and more.)

QUOTABLES BY TODD MCFARLANE
The Edmonton Suns' Darren Parke interviewed Todd recently about "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys."

"This was supposed to be a 14-year-old boy's imagination � so one thing we had to decide was, 'how polished do we make it?' It was intentional not to make it as polished as we could. It's very simplistic. Remember, this story takes place in the early 1970s, and animation then was a lot simpler. We couldn't use any special effects because the character wouldn't have ever seen any special effects in Saturday morning cartoons."

THANKS!
Thanks for reading this installment of The McFarlane Update.

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