ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS FROM THE TIMES, NEWS SERVICES AND THE NATION’S PRESS.

ANIMATION

Powerpuff Hits Hard: The Cartoon Network’s top-rated series, “The Powerpuff Girls,” about a superheroic trio of female kindergartners who have to ask to leave school in order to save the world, will join “Beavis and Butt-head,” “South Park” and “Pokemon” in making the leap from television to the big screen. Warner Bros. Pictures will produce and distribute the $25 million animated movie, which is targeted for a summer 2002 release. “The combination of great animation, timely girl power and the show’s nod to the hot design style of Japanese animation has enabled ‘The Powerpuff Girls’ to hit on all cylinders, from television to merchandising and now to movies,” said Betty Cohen, president of Cartoon Network Worldwide. Series creator Craig McCracken will supervise.

*

From the War Room to Disney Studios: Winston Churchill’s wartime government secretly urged Walt Disney to make an anti-Nazi cartoon based on the legend of St. George and the Dragon, the London Telegraph reported. The newspaper said that previously unpublished documents discovered in the Public Record Office in London show that Noel Coward and officials from the Ministry of Information went to America in 1940 to try to persuade Disney to help with Britain’s propaganda campaign. Officials were hopeful that Disney could introduce anti-Nazi propaganda into a film he was preparing titled “The Reluctant Dragon.” Their requests, however, were ignored by Disney, who was determined to keep America out of the war, the newspaper said.

FILM

Pre-release Critique: The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill has launched a protest against the upcoming Farrelly Brothers film “Me, Myself & Irene,” claiming that the movie and its promotional campaign represent “gross ignorance and insensitivity” to people with mental illnesses. In a letter to 20th Century Fox Film Corp. President Bill Mechanic, alliance executive director Laurie Flynn charged that Fox is demonstrating “an almost complete lack of responsibility as a corporate citizen.” The alliance is asking that the studio have star Jim Carrey, who plays a schizophrenic state trooper, tape public-service ads about the true nature of schizophrenia and clarify during promotional interviews the difference between schizophrenia and a multiple-personality disorder. Fox had no immediate response.

THE ARTS

Future Hollywood Players: UCLA alumni Tim Robbins (“Dead Man Walking,” “Cradle Will Rock”) and Alexander Payne (“Election,” “Citizen Ruth”) will participate in “UCLA Festival 2000,” a free, weeklong celebration of student theater, film, television and new media, continuing through Saturday on the UCLA campus. Robbins, who graduated from UCLA in 1982, will receive the Filmmaker of the Year Award Wednesday at the James Bridges Theater. Payne (1990) and Robert Rosen, dean of the School of Theater, Film and Television, will co-host the Spotlight Awards, a juried screening of student films, Thursday at the Directors Guild. Find screening and performance information at https://www.tft.ucla.edu/festival2000.

THEATER

Pasadena Playhouse Lineup: “Side Man,” Warren Leight’s Tony-winning memory play about a jazz musician, will make its local premiere as the opening attraction of the Pasadena Playhouse’s 2001 winter-spring season, running Jan. 14-Feb. 18. The season also will include the West Coast premiere of Charles Randolph-Wright’s “Blue,” March 18-April 22 (to be staged by the playhouse’s artistic director, Sheldon Epps, who recently directed the premiere of the play in Washington), and Alan Ayckbourn’s “How the Other Half Loves,” May 13-June 17.

QUICK TAKES

The man on whom best-selling rapper Eminem allegedly pulled a gun for kissing his wife has sued the musician, saying he still fears for his life. John Guerra alleges that the rapper told him twice, “I’m going to kill you,” as they struggled for control of the gun, which wasn’t loaded. Guerra’s lawsuit seeks unspecified damages. . . . . Tim Allen returns as the voice of toy astronaut Buzz Lightyear in the animated video “Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins,” hitting video stores Aug. 8. . . . . The Sunset Trocadero Lounge, which opened in 1934, returns to the Strip today, operating at 8280 Sunset Blvd. . . . . Director and screenwriter John Milius has joined forces with the fledgling Institute for Creative Technologies, a research and development program at USC that develops technology in conjunction with the entertainment industry. The project is designed to help troops make wise decisions in combat situations. . . . The home where artist Norman Rockwell spent the last 25 years of his life is up for sale. Rockwell lived in the house from 1953 until his death in 1978 at the age of 84. The current owners are asking $775,000 for the two-story Victorian home in Stockbridge, Mass.