Sunday, September 07, 2008

The Links of September

Now with tasty Add On.

Before Bolt, before Madagascar II, there will be Igor, an animated feature that has been gestating awhile. Film composer Patrick Doyle talks about producing music for the film:

"When I originally presented the opening of this movie as a piece of music it was quite a dark thing, and I felt that it need more action in it so I gave it some rhythm. But Tony [director Anthony Leondis] described music from Bulgaria and said, "I'm looking for something that's got a slightly eastern feel." ...

I don't think there is a great deal of difference at all [between composing for live action and composing for animation.] I have a huge respect for animation; I've always been a massive fan of it. In fact, the first film I ever went to see a film by myself, as a 14-year old, was "Fantasia." I was always fascinated by that picture, because it's an homage to music and drama in the form of animation. So, I treat live action, whether it be "Shakespeare" or "Harry Potter," I treat it in exactly the same way. I give it the same respect, the same reverence as I would to William Shakespeare. It's all about character, it's all about heightening the drama and capturing character image.

Miyazaki isn't the only Japanese animation director strutting his stuff at the Venice Film Festival:

Up against [Hayao Miyazaki's "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea,"] in the 21-film competition is Mamoru Oshii, whose bleak yet spectacular "The Sky Crawlers" has received mixed reviews and, according to trade press, fallen well behind Miyazaki in domestic ticket sales over the summer.

In "The Sky Crawlers," humanoids are genetically designed to live forever as teenaged pilots until they are shot dead in fierce air battles ...

The Times of India gives us a critical overview of the Indian animation industry:

... The demand for professional animators from India is high, points out Deepak Bhanushali, producer of My Friend Ganesha and Kaboom. But then, the quality of Indian animated films doesn’t make the cut, adds Deepak. “People enter the business to make quick money, but produce low-cost and low-quality stuff. Indian production houses inking deals with international companies must train and retain employees. While international animation houses find India attractive because of the lower labour cost, our companies must remember that if they pay peanuts, they’re going to get nothing,” explains Deepak.

Recently, the US-based Turner Entertainment Networks tied up with three Indian production houses to produce local CG animated feature films and a TV series. The demand for professional animators from India is high, points out Deepak Bhanushali, producer of My Friend Ganesha and Kaboom. But then, the quality of Indian animated films doesn’t make the cut, adds Deepak. “People enter the business to make quick money, but produce low-cost and low-quality stuff. Indian production houses inking deals with international companies must train and retain employees. While international animation houses find India attractive because of the lower labour cost, our companies must remember that if they pay peanuts, they’re going to get nothing,” explains Deepak.

Industry insiders agree that lack of research and funds result in bad work. Says Anil Kumar, conceptual artist who worked on Luv Kush, “When you go semi-realistic, it’ll tend to look unnatural. You must put in a lot of research so that the characters don’t look like cartoons. It takes three years to make a marginally good animation movie. But we do it in months.”

Agrees Ankit Sharma, lighting artiste in an animation production house, “A scene in Wall-E took nearly one year of research, but if we had to do the same in India, we’d have wrapped it in a week. Animators who were working on Kung Fu Panda were asked to learn kung fu before creating the graphics. If we follow the right procedure, we’ve the potential to go beyond Hollywood.”

History, animation and otherwise, is written by the winners:

Pixar co-founder Edwin Catmull remembered talking to people at Disney's animation group about the potential of computer animation ...

"Frank Thomas was intrigued, but the animators didn't know what it meant," said Catmull. "Our color images were fairly crude, and they definitely weren't up to the standards there." Computer animation's boosters understood that the software was always improving, and their computers were getting faster every year, but most people, Catmull realized, "didn't measure the technology against the arc that it was on." They didn't understand how fast it was progressing, and so they dismissed it as a science fair project ...

A 'toonland acting gig for Tom Cruise?

After his hilarious turn in Tropic Thunder, Tom Cruise’s comedic strategy for revitalizing his image seems to be on track. Next step in crafting Tom’s new public persona may be doing a little something for your kids, by voicing a character in Shrek 4.

Tonight I got an email from one of our regular sources at DreamWorks, whispering in my ear to let you know that Tom Cruise is being considered to voice one of the villains in Shrek Goes Fourth ...

Although they have played out their strings stateside, Kung Fu Panda and Wall-E are still collecting coins in foreign lands:

... DreamWorks Animation/Paramount's "Kung Fu Panda" ... collected $6.3 million from 2,922 screens in 64 territories to hoist its international gross to $397 million ... Pixar/Disney's animated "WALL-E" registered No. 1 openings in Sweden and Finland and $6.2 million overall from 3,375 situations in 36 markets. It has grossed $402.5 million so far worldwide, of which $184.5 million comes from overseas.

Danny Anatucci, godfather of Ed, Edd and Eddie is on his way to a San Francisco animation studio:

Wildbrain, the entertainment shingle behind hit kids series "Yo Gabba Gabba" and merchandising line Kidrobot, has sealed an overall deal with animation vet Danny Antonucci.

Antonucci was the creator behind "Ed, Edd n Eddy," one of the longest-running and top-rated series on Cartoon Network. At Wildbrain, he'll develop TV series, feature film projects and new-media properties, all geared toward both kids and adults ...

(As long as we're on the subject of Wildbrain, the company is also hiring longtime animation exec Marge Dean.)

Add On: ASIFA Hollywood puts up a mess of model sheets from the Disney Shorts Department -- circa way back ...

("Don't Bogart that Joint, My Friend ...")

Have a glorious workweek ... or if "glorious" is out of the question, have at least an adequate one.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz this "film" looks terrible, but even so, it will die a mercifully fast death.

Anonymous said...

ditto

Anonymous said...

I think it looks cool. I'm gonna go see it just to annoy you two... :0)

Anonymous said...

Is WildBrain union?

Anonymous said...

No, Wild Brain is not union.

Anonymous said...

Im sure it will change as Wall-e continues its foreign box-office march, but as of today, according to box office mojo, Wall-e has STILL not broken 300mil, and in fact hasnt even caught up with Horton Hears a Who for overall box office numbers. Is Box Office Mojo just inaccurate, or has Wall-e really just under-performed?

I figured it'd be bigger news (if true) that a film that cost 100 million more to make has made less than Horton, and significantly less than Kung Fu Panda (which cost 50 million less) Why arent people talking about this?

Anonymous said...

First lesson of Pixar club is don't talk about Pixar club.

Second lesson is NEVER suggest one of their films underperforms especially in comparision to another studio's films!

Unknown said...

Um, you misspelled "Eddy" in "Ed, Edd n Eddy".

Anonymous said...

Well, "Wall-e" is just now opening up overseas, and cleaning up. It opened in Australia and Japan last week.

Anonymous said...

'Why arent people talking about this?"

One thing to keep in mind is that Wall-E has not yet opened (or is just this past week opening) in some major foreign markets such as Australia, Japan, and Germany. The foreign roll-out for Wall-E has been gradual, whereas KFP opened almost simultaneously in the U.S. and in the foreign markets , so KFP's cumulative take racked up larger numbers faster .

Comparing apples to apples Wall E has made $219,398,090 domestically compared to $214,227,690 domestically for Kung Fu Panda. So even with 3 weeks more time in the theaters Kung Fu Panda has made less than Wall E in U.S. theaters.

We'll have to wait for Wall E to finish its run in all foreign markets before the final figures can be added up , but it looks like at this point that Kung Fu Panda will definitely have the edge at the foreign box office .

Anonymous said...

Wall-e's total world wide is $404 Million--so far. And it's just opening in a lot of places.

What a terrific movie! I can't WAIT for the BluRay disc.

Anonymous said...

The "Igor" trailer looks awful. Chock full of bad jokes, if you can even call them jokes. Looks pretty lame too. Gawd, I can't wait for Disney's new 2D films! I'm so tired of CGI I could putz!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Didn't the same guy who sunk Warner Brothers Feature Animation produce this mess? I can't remember his name. Some guy from England. His company is named Exodus--exactly what the audience will do if they try to watch this cartoon.

Anonymous said...

Well, I wanna go check it out.

Wall-e was not exactly "hilarious", in fact only "Monsters Inc" made me chuckle a couple of times...

Pixar is boring!

R.

Anonymous said...

Wall-e's total world wide is $404 Million--so far. And it's just opening in a lot of places

Thanks for the info. Where is that available? I wonder why is Box Office Mojo so behind?

Anonymous said...

http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2008/WALE.php

Box office mojo is ALWAYS about a month or two behind with international--unless you're fully registered.

Nate Moody said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

oh, but more animated features in the marketplace is better for everyone, right?

right?

Anonymous said...

Wall-E first half....great! second half a real snoozer. Kung Fu Panda is a much more entertaining film and I'm not surprised its doing so well still.

Anonymous said...

"oh, but more animated features in the marketplace is better for everyone, right?

right?"

Right...almost. They must do well...and that doesn't always mean good Box office. ie: Happily N'ever After did what should be considered poor BO (39 mill worldwide) and cost in excess of 40 mill to make, but LionsGate picked it up to distribute (for the proverbial song) and made enough on the release and DVDs to make it worth their while to continue making animation.

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