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November 30, 2004
China Hurries to Animate Its Film Industry
According to The New York Times, “Early next year, Global Digital Creations Holdings, a fledgling animation studio that has mostly labored in anonymity, is aiming for the big time with the worldwide release of its first 3-D feature film, Thru the Moebius Strip, a science-fiction adventure about a determined boy's time travel to another galaxy to rescue his stranded father. France's most famous comics artist, Jean Giraud, whose nom de plume is Moebius, came up with the story, which draws on elements of Jack and the Beanstalk and the breadth of science-fiction history from Jules Verne to The Matrix, and joined with G.D.C. to develop it. Moebius, who broke new ground in comics art in the 70's with his magazine Métal Hurlant, the precursor [to] Heavy Metal, had worked on effects-heavy films like Tron, Alien, The Abyss and The Fifth Element. Frank Foster, former vice president for multimedia at Sony Pictures Imageworks, is also on board as one of the producers, and Glenn Chaika, who was an effects animator on The Little Mermaid and directed Tom Thumb and Thumbelina, is the director. ... Now, with the sophisticated images coming out of this studio, China seems to be serving notice to the Disneys and Pixars of the world that its day is arriving in the lucrative business of 3-D computer animation.” However, Temple University's John Lent, a leading expert on Asian animation warns that, “One of the problems I hear coming out of China and many other places in the Far East is the storytelling. Zhang Yimou, the director of Hero said himself that when they have a good story they want to make a motion picture out of it, not an animated film.”

Kids' Choice — TV, Press, Net, Radio
Media Week reports, “The Childwise Monitor, a market research group specialising in children, has found the amount of time children watch TV has fallen over the past couple of years. But,much to parents’ irritation, the new number-one distraction is still screen based — the game console. Cinema attendance among this group is up, bolstered by big blockbusters, such as the Spiderman films and Shrek 2, while comics and magazines remain favourites, especially among pre-schoolers. ... Pre-school children (and their parents) particularly like the BBC channel, Cbeebies, making it the most-watched children’s channel at 7.4% of share according to Barb. The under-11s are unequally shared between the animation heavy channels such as Cartoon Network and Boomerang and the live action ones, such as Fox Kids and CBBC. The Beeb tops this age, as well, grabbing 6.1% of share, followed by Boomerang at 5.7%. ”

So What Is the Missing Piece?
Jesh Krishnamurthy at Indiantelevision.com, who says he has “been away from India for 11 years working in visual effects and animation on various projects for the Hollywood market” provides some thoughts on the current state of the Indian animation industry. He says, “On a recent visit I had the privilege of seeing some of the top studios in India and I was quite amazed by the investment made in pure infrastructure by many of these companies. A lot of these studios would rival places in the west known for their quality and artistic vision. This was quite heart warming and a big eye-opener and everywhere I went outsourcing animation was the buzz word. It seems that so many companies believe they are so close to achieving digital paradise and yet to me a few seem so far. So what is the missing piece? ... So while you [as an animator] cannot take your computer with a ton of software home with you, the art form exists in your head and that is where you do your work, in the deepest core of your creativity. So it is this mad breed of humans suffering from OCD and every known social disorder that really makes a studio special — or not. And to me, this is what the studios in India need to find if they are to play with the big boys. .. While I would not expect most studios in India to have a wealth of experience it would be extremely prudent to nurture their talent and allow them to grow and attain their full potential. As the industry evolves and starts to take on more and more complex projects this talent will be more than capable of taking on the biggest possible jobs and giving anyone a run for their money. Nurturing talent and preventing mass exodus is a huge topic that is not within the scope of this piece, but it is a problem faced by many companies the world over.”

Harry Hargreaves
The Times of London notes the death of the prolific cartoonist “who created The Bird for Punch and a Hayseeds strip for the London Evening News, both of which were widely syndicated. ... He [also] illustrated books, drew advertisements and greetings cards, designed toys and worked as an animator in films and television. ... From 1946 he worked as a cartoon animator for J. Arthur Rank’s Gaumont British Animation business [where he met his wife]. ... While working as a cartoonist for the Toonder Film Studios in Amsterdam in 1953, he created Little Panda, which was so popular that it was syndicated in 150 newspapers across Europe and kept going until 1961. ... His success with animal characters led to Hargreaves developing for ITV an animated fox, called Gogo, who appeared in a pop music programme between 1961 and 1965.

William E. Harty; Marketing Exec Helped Create Keebler Elves
The Chicago Sun Times says, “when [Harty was] asked to spearhead an advertising campaign for the Keebler Company's 'Uncommonly Good' snacks in the late 1960s, Mr. Harty never strayed from his philosophy to think small -- and helped create fictional mascots who barely weighed 4.5 ounces. These tiny animated bakers, Ernie and the Keebler Elves, became a pop cultural phenomenon. The hollow tree residents also gained a soft-spot in one of their creators' hearts. 'He would watch cartoons with us on Saturday morning, and we would watch the commercials together,' said daughter Elizabeth Keating. “Sometimes he would tell us, 'I just came back from visiting the elves.”' .. The Keebler Elves campaign, which was concocted with the help of Leo Burnett advertising agency, was his most famous venture.”

In Brief ...
Nintendo's Game to Produce Own Pix: According to Variety, “Japanese vidgame giant Nintendo is preparing to get into the film biz, likely by creating an inhouse unit to develop animated features based on the numerous properties owned by the company behind the GameCube and Game Boy systems. According to reports in the Japanese press, plan calls for Nintendo to create a pic based on one of its own franchises for theatrical release in 2006.” ... Fox Makes Room for More 'Dad': Zap2it.com notes, “Seth MacFarlane's American Dad [pictured] doesn't premiere until February, but Fox already wants more of it. The network has ordered six additional episode of the animated series from Family Guy creator MacFarlane, bringing the show's total to 19. Fox has also asked for eight scripts beyond the episode order.” ... Vintage 'Aviator' FX Lift Biopic to Another Plane: The Hollywood Reporter has this story about the special effects in The Aviator, the new Martin Scorsese film. It notes that “the movie allowed [visual effects supervisor Rob Legato at Sony Imageworks] to mine a century's worth of in-camera visual effects techniques that have little to do with computers, which he feels have the cumulative effect of desensitizing audiences to the wonders of onscreen movie magic.” The resulting effects were also less expensive than their digital equivalents.

November 29, 2004
'Incredibles' Soars at International Box Office
According to The Hollywood Reporter, “The Incredibles has delivered Disney's biggest single weekend ever at the international box office, taking in $45.5 million, according to data issued Sunday. The haul outshone that of 2003's Finding Nemo .... The suburban superheroes smashed records in the United Kingdom for animated pictures with a booty of $18.6 million, compared to Nemo's $12.3 million, impressive even when taking the depreciation of the U.S. dollar into account. Close behind was France, where The Incredibles soared to a weekend total of $9 million. In Italy the Pixar production amassed $5.8 million, making it the biggest animation release there ever.” ... In regards to the UK market, Scotland on Sunday adds, “Many cinemas were sold out for all shows, supporting critics’ claims that the film would be popular with all ages.” ... Meanwhile, back in the US, MTV.com reports, “A group of animated superheroes performed an incredible feat this week, rising up a notch on the top 10. Pixar's The Incredibles ... climbed up a notch from #3 to #2 with more than $33.2 million in ticket sales. ... Tom Hanks' The Polar Express is stuck in the #4 station where it stopped last week [taking] n more than $27.1 million in its third week .... The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, however, began to sink under the weight of the Christmas films, falling from #2 to #5 with $23.4 million. Still, the cartoon feature fared better than the much-hyped Alexander, which debuted low at #6.”

Digital Human Creation Advances
Back Stage says, “Venice, Calif.-based Digital Domain recently revealed a clip of a shockingly realistic CG actor that the company developed over the past few months as part of an R&D effort for future commercial and feature work. The clip was screened [by Digital Domain chairman/CEO Scott Ross] earlier this month during a presentation at The Digital Studio Summit, co-located with the American Film Market in Santa Monica. ... Culver City, Calif.-based Sony Pictures Imageworks also announced refinements in its digital human R&D. During the same panel, Sony Pictures Imageworks president Tim Sarnoff reported that the company's work in this area is 'so far advanced beyond Spider-Man 2, which is now two-year-old technology.' He said that moviegoers will see far more complex digital actors in future superhero movies, including a third Spider-Man film and Superman. ... 'The creation of a computer-generated digital person has been the Holy Grail of the digital effects industry,' Ross said.” ... Knight-Ridder Newspapers has a related story noting that “two information-technology experts are predicting that the use of digital forensics — what they call 'counterfeit reality' — will soon join DNA science as a growth industry. A coming explosion of counterfeit reality — the use of computers and digitally based media to produce fake images, video, documents or sounds — will drive a multibillion-dollar business of detecting what is real and what is not.”

J.P. Miller, Children's Book Illustrator, Dies at 91
The New York Times reports, “John Parr Miller, an early animator for Walt Disney whose later art adorned best-selling children's books, including those in the popular Little Golden Books series, died on Oct. 29 on Long Island. ... At the time of his death, J. P. Miller, the name he used in print, had about two score books for young children in circulation, including Follow Me (1998) and a version of The Little Red Hen, which he first illustrated half a century ago. ... A native New Yorker, John Parr Miller found himself in Hollywood during the Depression, with a widowed mother, need of a job and a portfolio from Grand Central Art School, which he had attended for a little more than two years. He found work in the story department at Disney Studio in 1934 .... In 1937 he was one of only three artists asked to start the studio's character model department. According to studio archives, he helped create the animated screen characters for Disney stalwarts like Pinocchio, Fantasia and Dumbo. He left Disney for military service in World War II, when he made training films for the Navy. After the war, Golden Books recruited him and several other Disney veterans to enliven children's books for a mass market, to go beyond the bland Dick and Jane primers of yore.”

In Brief ...
New Characters Introduced in Nick's 'Jadoo' Show: Indiantelevision.com has this story on how the character of Jadoo created for the big screen by Rakesh Roshan has been adapted for Nickelodeon India's J Bole Toh Jadoo, an“animation-cum-live action” series. ... Children Vote Shrek 2 Best Film: BBC News reports, “Young UK film fans voted animated Hollywood hit Shrek 2 best film at the children's Bafta awards on Sunday. ... South American-themed cartoon Joko! Jakamoko! Toto! won the honour for pre-school animation and its writer Tony Collingwood for original writer.” ... Classic Films Top the Charts: DeHavilland, in reporting on the British Film Institute's review of ticket sales in the UK put Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in third place “with 28 million admissions.” Gone With the Wind and The Sound of Music took the top two places. ... 'Caillou' Death Accidental: According to The New York Post, “A Montreal coroner says the minivan crash that killed [Jaclyn Linetsky,] the 17-year-old actor who was the voice of popular children's cartoon character Caillou was likely an accident.”

November 28, 2004
And So the Story Goes
This Los Angeles Daily News story has the subtitle, “As impressive as CGI animation is, it can't make skeptical audiences care more,” and features quotes from Frank Terry, “who heads the character animation program at California Institute of the Arts .... Terry, whose CalArts animation program produced Incredibles director Brad Bird, said viewers can more easily relate to stylized caricatures of people in the Pixar cartoon, while life-like recreations of real actors — such as those made with 'performance capture' technology in Polar Express — seem jarring. 'It doesn't carry the same impact to the viewer's eyes,' he said. 'We can sense the actor inside there that we're not looking at. It's like the Wizard of Oz thing — there's someone behind the curtain. 'As much as we enjoyed Tom Hanks as an (digitalized) actor (in Polar Express), we're still looking at Tom Hanks, whether we like it or not. With (Incredibles protagonist) Bob Parr, somehow, more people can react to that than the reprocessed signals of a live-action actor.' ... It's the strength of storytelling, not technology, that will make or break a digital extravaganza, [animation historian Jerry] Beck said. 'There have been (computer-generated) characters people can relate to — they're in Pixar films, they're in DreamWorks films, they're Scooby Doo and Casper,' Beck said. 'But it comes down to all the elements. It comes down to filmmaking.'”

Inner Turmoil of Post-apartheid South Africans on Display
William Kentridge Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibit poster Dan Bischoff in The Newark Star Ledger notes, “Through Jan. 27, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has mounted a small show of [South African William] Kentridge's work, including linocuts, collages, charcoal drawings, 'shadow-puppet' cut-outs and one of his animated movies, Tide Table, made by drawing in charcoal on a big sheet of paper, erasing the drawing, adding more drawing and photographing the process. Relentlessly black-and-white, and closer to the jaundiced German genius of Max Beckmann than the commercial frivolities of American or Japanese animation, Kentridge's movies are fascinating and deadening, wonders of moral shrivening aimed at the prosperous modern soul. An hour spent in this small windowless gallery in the American wing is an amazing tonic — there is a power in the human conscience that will not let it go unheard, no matter the temptations of greed or levels of brute force used to silence it.”

Hong Kong `Silicon Valley' Struggling
The San Jose Mercury News notes, “Too bad John Chu, this city's king of movie special effects, can't actually clone himself and his company. If he could make his digital magic work in the real world, perhaps he could turn a high-profile development called Cyberport into a huge hit. Chu is chairman and CEO of Centro Digital Pictures. His company is precisely the kind of tenant this city's political leaders want in Cyberport, a place once envisioned as a hub for information technology development and commerce, almost a miniature version of Silicon Valley. The often-maligned project isn't the abject failure some had predicted. But it's clearly not matching its backers' early visions, either, at least not so far. ... North American moviegoers who have watched Quentin Tarintino's Kill Bill films or this year's Shaolin Soccer by Stephen Chow, a mega-star here, have seen Centro's work. Here in Hong Kong, a number of filmmakers have used the company for spectacular visual effects. Chow's upcoming Kung Fu Hustle is widely expected to be a hit. The bread and butter of Centro's business is advertising, but the movies have given the company an increasingly high profile. Chu said he wants to move into new kinds of creative endeavors, including producing feature films entirely in-house rather than just working for others.”

In Brief ...
'Rudolph' Enters Middle Age: Zap2it.com has this story about the 40th anniversary of the Rankin-Bass Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer special. “Popularized by Gene Autry, composer Johnny Marks' song about Rudolph would have been famous anyway. The Rankin-Bass production made it even more so .... 'My math tells me this is actually (the special's) 41st anniversary, but for the sake of round numbers, I'm willing to concede," Rankin muses. "The generation that saw the show when it was first on introduces it to their children, then to their grandchildren. It's been very rewarding to know your work has entertained so many people, not only in America but also abroad.'” ... Doh! ‘The Simpsons' Characters Come to Life at Local Library: The Monroe (Michigan) Evening News has this report on a talk aimed at children given by Bill Morrison, an artist for The Simpsons who grew up in Lincoln Park, gave at the Monroe County Library System's Ellis Information and Reference Center.

November 27, 2004
Kingdom Kong
Newsweek has this story about the new version of King Kong being done by Peter Jackson. “Jackson has wanted to remake King Kong since he was 13 — the 1933 original, with the luminous Fay Wray, is so close to his heart that it couldn't be removed without life-threatening surgery. In 2003 Universal Pictures' Stacey Snider offered him, [Fran] Walsh and [Philippa] Boyens an extraordinary $20 million advance to write, direct and produce. ... His remake takes place in the '30s and is being shot in New Zealand — Weta Digital is building old New York on computer with a fanatical accuracy, using original blueprints and historical records. ... The original King Kong is many times greater than the sum of its parts, and whether or not Jackson's remake ever achieves anything like its permanence, it can certainly improve on some things — the animation of Kong, for starters. ... [Jackson] plays an 'animatic' — an animated version of a scene made for planning purposes—of the last nine minutes of his movie. In other words: Kong's final stand atop the Empire State, and his fall. The animation is no-frills. The score is a patchwork. And yet the sequence, far different from the original in its choreography and emotional depth, is stunning. Even the sound of biplanes sputtering toward the gorilla is heartbreaking, because you know that Kong is not a villain—and you know what's coming. After the sequence ends, nobody talks. Then Walsh, ordinarily that funny, bleak voice in the head, speaks up. 'People always ask Pete, 'Why do you want to remake King Kong?' she says. 'That's why.'”

Rudolph Still Guides the Way
Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer The 40th anniversary of the Rankin-Bass Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is the occasion for this Washington Post story. It notes, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer became the first of several holiday songs [Johnny] Marks would write, many of which eventually became incorporated into television specials by [Arthur] Rankin and his partner, Jules Bass. ... When Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer aired in 1964, it turned out to be a blockbuster. 'Right away,' says Rankin, 'every other song we wanted was available to us.'' Rankin and Bass bought the rights to most of the holiday songs of the time. Using stop-motion and traditional animation, Rankin-Bass went on to make about three dozen television specials (including Frosty the Snowman, The Little Drummer Boy and Peter Cottontail), a dozen series (including ThunderCats) and another dozen feature films. ... The story's moral — that a child can overcome being different — always has been the basis for Rudolph, even in his first incarnation, as a small book [by Robert L. May in 1939] offered free by Montgomery Ward. ... Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer also was printed commercially as a book and became a nine-minute cartoon. But the little reindeer didn't fly into history until songwriter Marks, who happened to be May's brother-in-law, developed the lyrics and melody.” (Incidentally, the nine-minute cartoon was the last theatrical film produced by Max Fleischer.)

November 26, 2004
This Isn't Child's Play
Rediff has this in-depth story about the “Mumbai-based 15-year-old digital animation and special effects major Crest Communications [which was] rechristened Crest Animation Studios last month. 'This was done to reiterate our identity and focus,' reveals [A K] Madhavan, chief executive officer of Crest. Adds Seema Ramanna, Crest's chain-smoking managing director, 'With 98 per cent of our revenues coming from animation, it fits in with our work.' The change comes at a time when Crest, which went public in 1995, finally appears to have jumped into the black after three years of losses. ... 'We were in transition. We were into everything, from advertising to post-production work and television serials, where anybody and everybody was our client,' says Ramanna As a result, while putting together a half hour of animation work cost Crest Rs 2 crore (Rs 20 million) [$445,000], television channels wanted to shell out only Rs 50,000 [$1,100] per episode . 'It just wasn't economically viable,' she adds. Besides, the domestic space was getting overcrowded with nearly 250 production houses ready to offer everything under the sun. ... So Crest rejigged its business strategy. It acquired American production house Rich Animation in 2000 and flagged off a subsidiary in Singapore. This year, it exited the 30-second ad film world to concentrate on large format content. By 2006, it will wrap up its first full-length feature Automation for Columbia Tristar. The focus now is the US market. The logic is simple: sell a product to a major studio or a distribution house in the US, and it will be seen the world over.”

Halting Reality in its Tracks?
Stephen Applebaum in The Scotsman has this essay which notes, “At London’s Science Museum digital faces on display are ... challenging our notions of identity. A recent 'documentary' on Discovery UK, Virtual History, went a stage further, using digital masks to transform actors into Second World War figures including Hitler, Churchill and Stalin — and unintentionally suggesting in the process that history itself could be under threat. The closer technology comes to emulating 'reality', it seems, the more unreal the world becomes. ... Before they were prematurely thrust into the spotlight by Final Fantasy, photorealistic digital humans, or synthespians, were already making their mark on movies in supporting roles (and scaring the hell out of actors, stuntmen and make-up people, who feared for their jobs). ... Now two extraordinary animated films, The Incredibles and The Polar Express, have put digital humans at the centre of the action once again. And this time they really are ready for their close-up. Brad Bird and Robert Zemeckis’s films have blasted humanimation into a new realm of believability and possibility. As Final Fantasy demonstrated, this is a tough trick to pull off.”

Losing America
Lynn Hirschberg in The Australian, reflecting on films shown at this year's Cannes Film Festival, compares American entries unfavorably with those from other countries. One exception being the independently made Sideways. However, “As far as the big studios go, Sideways is essentially a foreign film made in the US. But Shrek 2 is not. ... As charming as Shrek 2 is, I found it an unsettling example of how big studios represent the US to the world. While other countries have interpreted globalism as a chance to reveal their national psyches and circumstances through film, the US is more interested in attracting the biggest possible international audience. ... Wandering through Cannes and fighting my way into screenings, I felt a growing frustration that what I loved about American movies (and, by extension, about America) was in short supply, and when I mentioned this to Walter F. Parkes, head of motion pictures at DreamWorks SKG, he said: 'I know what you're talking about.' Parkes, like most of the big studio heads, is in a bind: corporate finances dictate that they cast the widest net possible. That has become the mandate of the studio president. DreamWorks, for instance, made Shrek 2 and is trying to parlay the $US436 million ($555 million) success of the film into a profitable initial public offering for its animation division.”

In Brief ...
The Lens That Launched a Thousand Ships: Process & Control Today has this story about Oxford-based Vicon Motion Systems, which specializes in motion capture cameras. “While the company carries out extraordinary work for the medical and life sciences industries, for the movie-going man in the street Vicon will perhaps be most easily recognized for its amazing animation in productions like Polar Express, Lord of the Rings and Troy [pictured] as well as music videos for the likes of Shania Twain.” ... Taiwan Animation Should Learn from Japan, Korea: Official: Central News Agency has this brief item reporting that, “Taiwan's animation industry could learn from Japan and South Korea — some of whose animation products tell profound and dramatic stories — to sharpen its competitiveness in the world market, a Taiwan official said Friday.” ... Animated Film from Local Cartoonist to Premier at First Cathedral: The Bloomfield (Connecticut) Journal has this report on the forthcoming premiere of Bloomfield native Joe Young's half hour TV special, It's Christmas, Dr. Joe, featuring his Scruples comic strip characters at the First Cathedral in Bloomfield on December 2. He said the 22 minute program took one year to make at a cost of $100,000. ... Different Paths Led Locally Linked Men to Computer Animation: The Santa Cruz Sentinel profiles two local men who worked on The Incredibles: “Animator Arik Ehle is the son of Capitola police chief Richard Ehle. Doug Nichols, the manager of lighting and effects on the film, is an Aptos High grad (Class of ’77).” See also, The Santa Cruz Sentinel's related story on the two. ... It's Been an Incredible Journey for Andy: ic Birmingham.co.uk has this story on Birmingham native Andy Whittock, who was a technical director on The Incredibles. “Andy, who is the son of Evening Mail cartoonist Colin Whittock, is one of only ten Brits among Pixar's 900 cosmopolitan staff.”

November 25, 2004
Darkness at the Edge of Toon Town
The Polar Express Jason Anderson in Toronto Eye Weekly has this look at the latest batch of animated features which begins, “Sometimes, cartoons are about utility. Animated features function less as entertainment for many people than as a semi-controlled setting for a family outing, a respite from seasonal shopping chaos or a way to get everyone to shut the hell up for 90 minutes. ... But toons are serious business, too. In fact, they may be the whole business, commanding all the resources of the American film industry. Their success or failure affects everything from a studio's stock price to the rate of technological innovation. The cost to make and market this season's three major cartoon pics — The Incredibles, The Polar Express and The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie — is in the region of US$500 million. What with the financial pressure being placed on Hollywood's animated flagships, fundamental aspects are crucial. If these films are going to enjoy any resonance within the culture — and, more importantly, are going to be repurchased with every DVD special edition — they have to work as stories.”

‘CG' Animation Opens New Avenues for Filmmakers
According to KRT News Service's Roger Moore, “The Incredibles and The Polar Express are dissimilar in every way but one: that look, those dizzying precision camera swoops, that hyper-realistic sheen that says 3-D 'computer animation' to modern moviegoers. 'CG' — computer-generated imagery — has become almost a brand-name to movie consumers, like 'Disney' or 'Pixar.' 'People get this starry-eyed, Buck Rogers notion about this technology,' says Mark Cotta Vaz, an animation expert and author of companion books on the making of both Polar Express and The Incredibles. 'But both films are just using computers as a means to an end, as a tool.' It may still be, as filmmakers say, 'all about the story.' But this tool, this new and fast-changing technology, is allowing filmmakers to tell stories they never could have thought of — or never could have afforded to tell — just a few years ago.”

November 24, 2004
Animations Heat Up Local Screens
Phantom Master — Dark Hero From Ruined Empire The Korea Times notes that, “A battle among a string of blockbuster animations slated for release is expected to heat up in local theaters this winter. Local moviegoers will have a variety of interesting films to choose from this winter, including a local animation opening this weekend, which is set to go against some strong competition from Hollywood and Japan. Sinamhaengosa (Phantom Master — Dark Hero From Ruined Empire), co-produced by local and Japanese animation companies, will greet audiences on Nov. 26. ... Joji Shimura from Japan directed the animation, and about 70 percent of the entire work was done by Japanese studios. Despite this, the scenery and music behind the story still seem to remain Korean and capture the original comic's style. The success of Phantom Master is difficult to predict since domestic moviegoers often neglect local animations, even with savvy marketing strategies and techniques. Such animations as Oseam, My Beautiful Girl, Mari and the 2003 blockbuster animation Wonderful Days failed to break even when released in local theaters, although they were well received later internationally.”

DPSi Slashes Israeli Activity, Will Fire 100 Employees
Globes Online reports, “Sources inform 'Globes' that digital animation company Digital Production Solutions Israel (DPSi), a subsidiary of Digital Production Solutions (DPS) of the US, is about to slash its activity in Israel. DPSi has 160 employees at the Hartuv A industrial park adjacent to Beit Shemesh. Beit Shemesh municipality spokesman Yehuda Gur Arie said DPSI representatives had already notified the municipality personnel department that the company would lay off 100 employees, including 15 Beit Shemesh residents. DPSi told the Beit Shemesh municipality that cutbacks were because DPS had stopping giving work to DPSi. ” DPS is a subsidiary of IDT Corp., which has recently been on a buying spree acquiring controlling interests in a number of animation companies, including DPS Film Roman and Mainframe Entertainment. Canadian animator Mark Mayerson sent this link to a CGCHAR posting, where an anonymous ex-DPSi employee complains, “IDT ... pulled the plug, with out any warning that the outcome would be so grim. They released a little under 170 artist[s] in to a market that supports at best something around 30....(30 for the country as a whole).”

Leaving 'Disney On The Potomac'
TV writer Lloyd Garver at CBS News muses, “The other day, while reading about the big Disney trial, I learned that Michael Eisner had offered the Number Two job to Colin Powell before he gave it to Michael Ovitz. So, if Powell had accepted, he never would have become George Bush's Secretary of State. Instead of worrying about Afghanistan and Iraq, he might have been in charge of Monsters, Inc. and Extreme Makeover. I started wondering how different Colin Powell's life would have been if he had gone to Hollywood instead of to Washington. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized it wouldn't have been very different at all. How do the working conditions in the boardroom of Disney compare to those in the war room of the White House? The Eisner-Ovitz trial portrays Disney as a place run by a secretive leader who expects absolute loyalty from those below him, and who bristles at any answers to questions other than yes, sir. It's a place where a bunch of Scrooge McDuck-like rich men work with other rich men who are out of touch with the reality of people not in their financial bracket.”

In Brief ...
Tag-team on 'Robots': Variety reports, “Imax and 20th Century Fox have pacted to simultaneously release the animated CGI feature Robots in both Imax and conventional theaters March 11.” (See also the Imax press release.) ... Animated Children: The New Britain (Connecticut) Herald has this story about the “two New Britain residents [Robert Hales Jr. and Evelyn Black] and one Plainville resident [Greg Donato], [who were] part of a cast of nine that supplied the voices of characters for the Hartford Animation Institute’s inaugural [half hour] cartoon show [It’s Christmas, Dr. Joe based on the Scruples cartoon characters created by Hartford animator Joe Young], which premieres on television in December.”

November 23, 2004
The Majesty of 2-D
Howl's Moving Castle Mark Schilling in The Japan Times says, “Hollywood has buried 2-D feature animation, with the incredible success of Pixar's The Incredibles ... putting a seal on the tomb, so to speak. In Japan, however, Hayao Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli animators are still loyal to the 2-D cause. Why not, given the equally incredible numbers for Miyazaki's 2-D Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away), which grossed 30.8 billion yen [$30 million] in Japan alone in 2001 — a box-office record for any film here, Hollywood or Japanese. Miyazaki and Ghibli had other reasons for celebration, including an Academy Award for best feature animation .... They may well get a second for Howl no Ugoku Shiro (Howl's Moving Castle), Miyazaki's first shojo manga-esque love story, complete with a faux European setting, mousy-but-spunky teenage heroine and androgynously handsome hero, voiced by superstar Takuya Kimura. Based on a novel of the same title by the British children's author Diana Wynne Jones, Howl is less Miyazaki's attempt to wow shojo manga fans (though wowed they will be) than further proof of why his status as the world's greatest living animator is still secure. It is also a powerful counterargument to the '2-D is dead' crowd”

Territory Report: Taiwan
According to The Hollywood Reporter, “The Taiwanese government earlier this year introduced a range of policies designed to change the face of the country's film industry by focusing on developing market-oriented films instead of art house fare, trying to steer away from a stereotyped image of Taiwanese films and making local films profitable rather than just raising the country's profile in international film events. ... So far, the government reforms have seen some initial success. New filmmaking trends to emerge from the new policies are an increase in the number and scope of animated features, larger co-production projects and light-hearted teen romance dramas. ... Two Wang Film Prods. animated features, Monkey King [pictured] and The Story of Grandpa Lin Wang, have received backing because of their use of digital technology. Wang Film had been a contracted manufacturer for supplying animation for the Walt Disney Co. on such films as Pocahontas, The Little Mermaid and Mulan. The company says it is now seeking to create its own projects. Monkey King, which received $500,000 from the government fund, is adapted from classic Chinese fantasy novel Journey to the West. The film is scheduled for release in February. Grandpa Lin Wang is about the life and adventures of an old elephant and is based on an African elephant in Taipei Zoo. The film received $300,000 in funding.”

A Disney Year After All
The Los Angeles Daily News reports, “Incredibly, the resurgent movie division of The Walt Disney Co. is poised to hit the $1 billion mark in domestic box office grosses over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, despite enduring a string of flops during the first seven months of the year. ... Disney has managed to salvage what had been a dismal year with its release of The Incredibles, the computer-animated smash from Pixar Animation Studios that has grossed $177.5 million in three weeks. Incredibles was bumped from the No. 1 spot by another Disney release, National Treasure, which opened with a surprisingly strong $35.1 million. ... the real turnaround came with the Nov. 5 release of The Incredibles, which enjoyed universally positive reviews and has been a major hit among several demographics of the moviegoing audience. The film is sure to cross the $200 million mark over the Thanksgiving holiday and looks to add handsomely to its total in the weeks to come.”

Special Effects Wizards Set up Shop Far Away from Hollywood
The Associated Press has this story about how 31-year-old computer animator Kai Bovaird abandoned Hollywood, where he worked on the special effects of The Matrix, along with “Paul Almer-Ryan set up Cause & F(X) Pictures, a local special-effects house that does everything from computer-generated movie effects to the cinematic sequences that appear in video games. ... Bovaird now wants to position himself for what he expects will be a growing industry for computer-generated imagery, or CGI, in Hawaii. Some might question his timing. Two years ago, Square USA studios, the producers of the computer-animated film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, collapsed under losses of more than $100 million. This summer, local effects house Sprite Entertainment, which had employed about a dozen people, packed up and left for Los Angeles to be nearer to the action. But like Bovaird, other experienced special-effects artists are making a go of it in the islands. Several of them are former members of the Final Fantasy team and all are turned off by the L.A. scene.”

November 22, 2004
Action, Not Animation, is 'National Treasure'
USA Today reports, “This weekend was to be one of Hollywood's fiercest showdowns between animated films. Then Jerry Bruckheimer blew the weekend to bits. The producer's action film National Treasure ... stunned analysts and studio executives by nabbing $35.3 million and the top spot at theaters this weekend .... Treasure's haul was $12 million more than expected and made it a surprise winner over The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, which soaked up a strong $33.5 million but couldn't overcome Bruckheimer's knack for turning critically panned movies into gold. ... Animated fare took three of the top four spots. The Incredibles dropped 46% its third week in theaters to take in $26.8 million and third place, while The Polar Express fell 35% for $15.2 million and No. 4. ... Box Office Prophets deems the results for SpongeBob as “excellent .... With the success over opening weekend for SpongeBob, the studio may have a new franchise to work with, despite being made with the dreaded traditional 2-D animation. According to sources, SpongeBob cost only $30 million to make, so even if SpongeBob’s audience is limited to its TV audience, this is going to be a huge hit for both Nickelodeon and Paramount. ... Logic would tell us that The Incredibles should finish well ahead of Monsters’ $255.9 million and somewhat short of Nemo’s $339.7 million.”

'Howl's Moving Castle' Sets 2-Day Box-Office Record in Japan
While animation continues to dominate the American box office, the same seems to be happening in Japan. Thus, according to Kyodo, “Famed Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki's latest animated film Howl's Moving Castle chalked up 1.48 billion yen [$14.4 million] in box-office revenue and attracted an audience of 1.1 million people during its first two days of release, a record for a domestic film, Toho Co. said Monday. For its first two days, the movie surpassed the record of Miyazaki's previous work and smash hit, Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away) by 40 percent, the film distributor said. The movie also broke the previous record set by Bayside Shakedown 2, Save the Rainbow Bridge, a popular police drama movie sequel shown in 2003.” ... Variety also points out that the film's take accounted “for 72% of the territory's B.O.”

Animation Needs Make Studios Hot Customers
Peanut Pete The Seattle Times reports, “One engine behind [DreamWorks'] bonanza is [its] use of a novel technology concept in which the company rents computing power from [Hewlett Packard]. The two companies worked together on the original Shrek movie in 2001 and they expanded their partnership in the making of Shrek 2. HP hopes such deals will help it make a stand against its larger rival IBM, which doesn't have a consumer business of its own and is in many ways an underdog when it comes to Hollywood connections. HP wants to be the king of entertainment technology, with both its digital consumer products such as portable music players, as well as Hollywood computing services.” ... In a somewhat related story, BBC News says, “Pay-as-you-go computer power could soon be helping animation companies and students finish their projects more quickly. A prototype of a utility rendering service is being tested by researchers at computer giant Hewlett Packard's labs in Bristol. The rendering service would create virtual server pools that could be used to process the complex images created by modern computer animators. ... Already the HP Labs pay-as-you-go processing power system is being used by British animators to create animated 3D short films that showcase how the system works. In all seven short films have been created using the on-tap processing system for an animation showcase called SE3D.”

From 'Polar Express' to UT Biomechanics Technology Used by Film Industry for Animation
The Toledo Blade has this story about the University of Toledo's research into motion capture animation. ““It’s a very, very powerful technology,” said [Chuck Armstrong, chairman of UT’s department of kinesiology], who uses it for a different purpose [than feature film animation].In UT’s motion analysis lab, researchers use it to study issues of biomechanics — the physics of the human body — especially as related to sports performance and injury and how diseases affect human motion. One student is exploring the differences between power hitters in softball and those who hit for average. Ms. Gulgin is studying hip rotation in golfers and how that may relate to injuries. Others use the technology to predict how cerebral palsy patients will fare if a muscle is surgically moved to serve a new function.” It also briefly touches on a similar program at Bowling Green State University.

In Brief ...
Israel's Animation Superhero: According to The Jerusalem Post, “There's a reason the new heroes of The Incredibles don't have capes. And Ra'anana resident Alex Orrelle could explain the intricacies to those interested. Orrelle was an animator on the Pixar team that created the film — and the capes scene was just one of the episodes he worked on.” ... Oak Grove Native Has 'Incredible' Success: The Hattiesburg (Mississippi) American has this story about “Oak Grove native Lance Thornton [who] has three credits [on The Incredibles]: character development on the part of Syndrome, articulation artist on Syndrome and another character, Huph — defining how they are going to move and stimulation-working on clothing and hair.” ... New Sexual Health Campaign Launched: Stuff.co.nz reports, “'No Rubba no Hubba Hubba' is the message being pushed in a campaign launched at Parliament today to try and stem the high rate of sexually transmitted infections. The campaign, launched by Health Minister Annette King, includes a new, partially animated television commercial using the slogan and has been widely praised by doctors and health groups.”

November 21, 2004
When Every Child Is Good Enough
The Incredibles continues to spark discussion in the press about its philosophy. One of the more interesting is this story in The New York Times which notes, “The Incredibles is not just an animated adventure for children, at least not to the parents and teachers who have been passionately deconstructing the story of a family of superheroes trapped in suburbia. The movie has reignited one of the oldest debates about child-rearing and society: competition versus coddling, excellence versus egalitarianism. Is Dash, the supersonic third-grader forbidden from racing on the track team, a gifted child held back by the educational philosophy that 'everybody is special'? Or is he an overprivileged elitist being forced to take into account the feelings of others? ... the basic issue is the same one raised four decades ago by Kurt Vonnegut in Harrison Bergeron, a short story set in the America of 2081, about a 14-year-old genius and star athlete. To keep others from feeling inferior, the Handicapper General weighs him down with 300-pound weights and makes him wear earphones that blast noise, so he cannot take 'unfair advantage' of his brain.”

Animators Draw up Oscar Plans
The Los Angeles Times speculates, “ In a year when no single live-action movie has emerged to overshadow the competition, some animated films may have a shot at best picture nominations. Their prospects would be considered unlikely, except for the perception among academy members, if not the public, that there is a dearth of Oscar-worthy live-action films this year. Contenders, including Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ; Collateral, starring Tom Cruise; Ray, starring Jamie Foxx; Kinsey, starring Liam Neeson; and Sideways, an independent film, will certainly make a run for a nomination, but their success remains uncertain. ... 'How can you keep avoiding it when it's like the elephant in the room?' asked [Julie] Andrews, who supplies the voice of Queen Lillian in Shrek 2 .... 'There are so many great animated movies these days. . . . The technology is incredible. They are doing things that never could have been done before.' As the genre continues to push its creative boundaries and deliver blockbuster box office receipts, it is increasingly difficult for academy voters to discount animated movies. Indeed, the lines between live-action and animation films continue to blur, thanks to technological advances in computer graphics, stronger scripts and Oscar-winning stars and directors willing to lend their names and talents to a genre once dismissed as cartoons.”

November 20, 2004
Local Man Helps Animate Hit Movie
The Lake City (Florida) Reporter has this local-boy-makes-good story about “Bill and Linda Poplin's son Christopher [who] spent the last two years working as layout lead on [The Polar Express]. ... While performance capture provides another tool for animators, Poplin doesn't think moviegoers will have to worry about computer chips taking the place of their favorite actors. 'There are definitely varying thoughts on how it will affect movies,' Poplin said. 'I personally believe it will become just another genre of movie. Anytime a new technology comes out, there are people who think it will take over the world. The filmmakers who made Toy Story did a wonderful job with their craft, but that didn't mean people don't want to see the stars' faces in the next romantic comedy.'”

November 19, 2004
Not All It's 'Puffed' Up to Be
An unnamed critic in The New York Daily News feels, “The new series Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, about the animated adventures of a female Japanese singing duo, is a baffling concoction. I like the music, as well as the brief appearances by the real-life singers, but the animation itself does nothing for me — and I enjoy Japanese pop culture as much as the next guy. ...Vocal actresses provide the voices of the animated Ami and Yumi, so the only time you hear them for real is when they're singing, or in the entertaining interstitial segments. But that's the real show here, and it makes you wonder why someone doesn't just import reruns of Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Puffy. Cartoon Network's effort, though it may indeed spark some sort of AmiYumi Fever, is Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Pathetic.”

In Brief ...
Srishti's Creative Venture: Screen India reports that, “Kuntal Basu and Rajib Bhattacharya of Srishti Animation and Creative, Dum Dum, Kolkata have sought to explore an area of joy through animation technology. They have embarked on a novel method of cartooning small poetries — Chhodas through an animated VCD called Chand Utheche Phool Phuteche - Chotoder Mojar Chhoda that weaves a collection of popular children’s rhymes with the story of a little girl Paulami. The project boosts up the Bengali culture that seems to be fading and brings about a nostalgic feeling for the adults.” ... 'Boundin'': Pixar's Nod to Disney's Golden Age: Hear Charles Solomon on NPR's Day to Day on Boudin', the Pixar short playing with The Incredibles. ...Proposal Seeks to Keep a Disney Heir on Board: Bloomberg News reports (also here) that “Frank Wierenga, a Pennsylvania investor who has owned Disney stock since 1979,” has submitted a proposal guaranteeing representation on the Disney board of Walt and Roy O. Disney. “Their name is on everything Disney touches, and for them to have some kind of say over how their name is presented and how their legacy is presented, I think is very important.' Wierenga said in an interview.”. The last Disney heir on the board was Roy Disney, who is fighting to regain control of the company from Michael Eisner.

November 18, 2004
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
The big screen version of the popular Nickelodeon series has been getting mixed reviews so far. Typical is Christy Lemire of The Associated Press, who says, “Absorbent and yellow and porous is he, but SpongeBob SquarePants proves there’s a limit even to what he can achieve. Sorry, boys and girls, I hate to break it to you, but I did not love The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. And I really wanted to, because I’m a fan of the series. ... part of the program’s charm is its quickness and quirkiness. You get two episodes in a half-hour, each of which is what, about 10 or 12 minutes? ... By extending the premise to a 90-minute feature, The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie feels dragged out and slowed down. It feels strained, a phenomenon that has never plagued the TV show.” ... Scott Chitwood at Comingsoon.net concurs, lamenting, “Unfortunately this movie just isn't that funny. I desperately wanted to love it but nothing ever got me laughing out loud like on the TV show. ... Everything that makes the TV show great just isn't here.”... David Sterritt in The Christian Science Monitor is considerably more positive. He admits, “I had a great time at The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. Why? ... The picture put me in touch with my inner child. In a nutshell, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie recognizes that my inner child is about 95 percent crazy and at least half out of control — and that's on the good days. The other days are even more fun, but let's not go there. SpongeBob goes there for us.” See also Comingsoon.net's interview with the film's starring voice talent, Tom Kenny and Bill Fagerbakke.

Digital-Age Artist
A City of Flimjees The Burke (Virginia) Connection has this profile of “Burke artist Mike Fisher [who] has published and won awards for his cartoons and digitally animated short films. ... Fisher got his big break when his first short film, They Ruled the World, won a Rosebud Award at the annual Rosebud Film and Video Festival in Washington, D.C. ... The film ... was six minutes long and created entirely on the computer. It concerned a group of aliens who land on Earth, albeit in a bathroom. It was a light-hearted film, as most of his films usually are, which included aliens. That’s a common theme for Fisher, who said most of his films 'usually have a spaceship, alien or robot in them.' He grew up adoring the Marvel series of comic heroes, like Spider-Man and The Hulk. In addition to his films, Fisher has a successful career as a cartoonist, publishing in Starlog, Modeler’s Resource and Animation magazines with his character 3-D Pete. His films, A City of Flimjees [pictured] and Far Away Eyes, were also exhibited at this year’s San Diego Comic Convention. 'I like to think of myself as a cartoonist and an animator,' said Fisher, who admitted, 'The computer is wiping out a lot of other ways of creating things because it’s so versatile.'”

Entrepreneur Seeks to Make Region a Digital Animation Center on Par with Pixar
Artoonic According to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Srini Raghavan wants to build 'the next-generation Pixar,' and he wants to do it in the Pittsburgh region. ... So when Raghavan, 35, talks about his Coraopolis company, Paprikaas Animation Studios, becoming the next-generation Pixar, he's setting the bar pretty high. Paprikaas, which Raghavan describes as an 'animation and digital content company,' appears to be off to a good start. In two years, the firm — which employs about 130, almost all in India — has delivered more than 65 hours of animation for clients ....It also has designed a number of computer games, and by this time next year, anticipates the theatrical release of a full-length 3D feature for an Italian studio. The man behind this flurry of activity, which has propelled Paprikaas to a finalist in the Pittsburgh Technology Council's Tech 50 Rising Star category, is a soft-spoken engineer who works out of his Coraopolis home and has only recently begun to unleash the artist within. ... Raghavan hopes to grow the company to 350 to 400 employees worldwide within two years, and in a reversal of offshoring — 'Onshoring,' he suggests with a chuckle — to have 10 percent to 15 percent work in the United States. 'I want to create Pittsburgh as an entertainment technology hub,' he said. 'Pittsburgh is close to my heart.'” (Pictured: Artoonic, a series produced by Srini Raghavan.)

In Brief ...
Disney's Eisner: TV Interview with Ovitz Was Dumb: Reuters reports, “Michael Eisner, the chief executive of the Walt Disney Co., on Thursday said it was 'stupid' to appear on [The Larry King Show] in 1996 to show his support for Michael Ovitz and conceded he was less than candid with the public during the interview. ... 'The statement that I gave ... was the better of the two options for our shareholders,' Eisner told the Delaware Court of Chancery. 'It's a fine line ... as to how much to reveal to the public before you have actually concluded your decision making process.'” Also, listen to NPR's Morning Edition story on Eisner's testimony. ... Disney Profit Up, TV Outshines Studio: Reuters reports, “Walt Disney Co. posted a 24 percent rise in profit on Thursday as advertising gains at ESPN and ABC television networks more than made up for a sharp slowdown at Disney's movie studio. ... Profits in consumer products, which licenses Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh brands, rose 43 percent to $146 million.” ... 'The Incredibles' Entertains While it Subverts Liberal Values: The Decatur (Alabama) Daily columnist Franklin Harris notes, “Without really trying to be, The Incredibles is one of the most subversive films to come out of Hollywood in years. Not that it is subversive in the traditional Hollywood sense. There is no liberal message here. Instead, the movie subverts several decades of liberalism gone awry.” ... Fragrance Advertising Gets Animated: Marketing Web has this story about the creation, by Bester Burke, of a delightful South African-made commercial for Lentheric's new fragrance. “The result is the Hoity Toity girl [pictured], named after the fragrance, and created by local artist Riccardo Capecchi. She’s French-inspired, flirtatious, feminine, somewhat posh and irresistibly playful – and she’s a cartoon.” ... Top 10 Cartoons For Guys: For what it's worth, Dennis O'Connell of AskMen, provides this listing of animated TV series, ranging from The Oblongs (number 10) to The Family Guy (number 1).

November 17, 2004
Disney's Eisner Called Ovitz a 'Psychopath'
I have largely avoided daily coverage of the shareholders suit regarding Michael Ovitz's golden parachute after his friend Michael Eisner fired him as president of Disney. However, I just couldn't resist Eisner's current testimony, which is beginning to harken back to Jeffrey Katzenberg's suit against Disney for back pay, when it was revealed that Eisner called Katzenberg, “I think I hate the little midget.” As Reuters reports, “Walt Disney Co.'s chief executive Michael Eisner on Wednesday was confronted with notes in which he called Michael Ovitz 'dangerous' and 'a caged animal' as he desperately tried to fire his one-time friend from the entertainment giant. He also was pressed about an internal memo in which he called Ovitz a 'psychopath' who repeatedly lied to other top executives at the company. ... 'I don't want to start off here in an argumentative way,' Eisner said in the first minutes of cross-examination by shareholders' lawyer Steven Schulman.” For an audio report on the proceedings, check out this story from NPR's Morning Edition. And if you need a bit more color, The New York Times has this story about how the big city attorneys are managing to cope in Georgetown, Delaware, where the trial is being held.

Miyazaki Provides Another Howling Good Time
Mary Kennard in The Daily Yomiuri says, “In Howl's Moving Castle, the newest movie by animation master Hayao Miyazaki, the elements of a Miyazaki hit are all there — the luscious animation, the great soundtrack by Jo Hisaishi, the quirky characters and the engrossing story with a message. And yet ... and yet ... Adapted from a young adult fantasy novel by British author Diana Wynne Jones, Howl is the story of Sophie, a young girl working in a hat shop. ... [Cursed by a witch,] Sophie packs up her bag and sets out for someplace far away ... The someplace she finds to hide out is the freakish contraption known as Howl's moving castle, a hodgepodge of bits of buildings on top of legs. ... Although I enjoyed the movie immensely, it didn't move me the way Miyazaki films usually do. And I wonder if that could be because his best works are the ones that are based on the fantastic stories and characters that spring from his own fervid imagination.” ... The Daily Yomiuri also has this interview with Studio Ghibli's “president and producer, Toshio Suzuki — right-hand man of animation titan Hayao Miyazaki — says Ghibli has never made a movie intended for foreign audiences. It's the people living in the studio's neighborhood who they make their movies for, he says.”

'Incredibles' launch heroic for Disney, Pixar
Columnist Martin A. Grove in The Hollywood Reporter has this interview with Buena Vista Pictures distribution president Chuck Viane and marketing president Oren Aviv about the how and why The Incredibles is doing so well. Grove, for his part, fairly gushes over the film and its marketing. He begins by claiming, “Hollywood's boxoffice equivalent of Mother Nature's 'perfect storm' comes when outstanding filmmaking and first-class marketing and distribution combine as they just have with Disney and Pixar's The Incredibles. ... Incredibles' broad playability will clearly help it in getting through the long holiday season. A good sign of its wide appeal came opening weekend when Disney's exit research found that 38 percent of the audience was non-families, meaning teenagers or adults who came without bringing children. 'Typically, you open a movie like this and your core audience, your anticipated audience, is that family unit and they come in extremely big numbers,' Viane explained. 'It takes a movie two or three weeks to catch up with the general public. We started from the advantage of having 38 percent of the audience non-families. (As a result the film became a topic of) conversation in offices where people said, 'You've got to go see this.' It's been extremely good for word of mouth.'

In Brief ...
Beijing to Ease Rules for Investing in TV Firms: Asia Pacific Media Network reports, “International media groups will be allowed to invest in Chinese television production joint ventures from the end of the month, under long-awaited rules to be announced this week by the Beijing authorities. ... Under the new rules, which will take effect on Nov 28, foreign companies can hold up to 49 per cent stakes in production ventures, which must have initial capital of at least US$2 million (S$3.3 million), or US$1 million in the case of animation companies. Local partners can be private, but must be existing holders of a production licence.” ... Diesel's 'Giant' Voice Blows 'Riddick' Away: Bruce Westrbrook in The Houston Chronicle notes, “'I've always wanted to be a part of the animation world,' Vin Diesel says on a special-edition Iron Giant DVD due in stores Nov. 17. 'And the only way I could do it was by lending my voice as an actor.' That may have been true for 1999's Iron Giant, when he gave guttural voice to a space robot who befriends a small boy, E.T.-style, in America of the 1950s. But animation no longer is foreign to Diesel, whose latest film [The Chronicles of Riddick], also new on DVD, is so heavily animated it topples under its special-effects weight.”

November 16, 2004
Life Is Funny. And Mundane. Just Like in a Cartoon by Lev
Lev The San Francisco Chronicle has this story about “the cartoonist known as Lev” who has become “an underground sensation for his kinky/quirky Tales of Mere Existence animated series, which was conceived and produced in his Richmond District bedroom. Even now, stacks of the cartoon's print version clutter his bachelor pad. ... Despite his being out and about at cultural events in the city, he says he's not a scenester. 'No, but much of what I do artistically is about trying to be a scenester. I like to go out and get demented, but I'm also a loner and somewhat reclusive. To be honest, I've never been sure where I fit in.' Maybe the new Comedy Central series will convince him of who his peers might be. 'The company I'm in on this show!' he breathes. 'Well, it's pretty humbling. Bill Plympton, Don Hertzfeldt, who was nominated for an Oscar. ... Some of my heroes!' Yet watching the first episode of Jump Cuts (which is airing every Sunday night this month at midnight for the edgy-and-young audience), Lev's cartoon stands shoulder to shoulder with theirs. Subtitled 'Stuff you think about but don't talk about,' Tales of Mere Existence is a first-person narrative tour through the occasionally mundane, always hilarious, thoughts of a young man on the edge.”

We Take A Spin On The Magic Roundabout
Empire Online, in reporting on a press preview of the movie based on the beloved kids TV show, reports, “Well, it's back with a vengeance — and this time, it's 3-D. Yes, CGI has taken over even from puppets, but the good news is that the characters themselves haven't changed much, except that they can now do action. And how — Dylan sees off some evil skeletons with his hitherto-unguessed at martial arts know-how, Brian gets ejector-seated from a moving train and Ermentrude does some Catherine Zeta-Jones style ballet dancing through infra-red beams. ... We're assured that the film is not going for Shrek style humour — distributor Pathe said that the film aimed at 'very particular, eccentric, British' style laughs. And while some of the jokes fell flat out of the context of the film as a whole, there are some lovely sight gags to fill any gaps.”

Find Out Who Lives in the Pineapple Under the Sea
Zap2it.com has this interview with Tom Kenny and Bill Fagerbakke, the voices of SpongeBob and Patrick in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (as well as the original TV series). They say that “some legendary Hollywood comedy duos from the past were inspirations [for the animated duo]. 'You see elements of Laurel and Hardy in us, but we're trying to avoid the smart mean guy and his moronic friend, so what you have is a sweet fairly dumb guy and an even dumber guy who's a hurricane force of nature,' says Kenny. 'It's kind of a combination of Martin and Lewis and Laurel and Hardy,' adds Fagerbakke. 'But unlike Martin and Lewis, Dean Martin would occasionally be snappy and mean to Jerry, saying something like 'Shut up let me handle this!' ' says Kenny. 'SpongeBob would never say that to Patrick, he thinks Patrick is a genius.'”

Captain Comics: a Love Letter to the Comic-book Genre
Andrew A. Smith of the Scripps Howard News Service feels that while The Incredibles “isn't based on any particular superhero comic book, [it] is obviously a love letter to the genre. ...Let me state it right up front: The Incredibles is in many ways an homage to Marvel's Cosmic Quartet [Fantastic Four]. Both teams are families, for example, although it's not a one-to-one match. The family dynamic is intact, as witnessed by both love and irritation. As to superpowers, Incredibles scores 75 percent compared with Fantastic Four. Mr. Fantastic's stretchiness, The Thing's brute strength and the Invisible Woman's force fields and disappearing trick are all mirrored, respectively, by Elastigirl, Mr. Incredible and the shy, teenage Violet (shrinking violet — get it?). Only the FF's Human Torch is left out, replaced by the young super-speedster Dashiell Parr (Dash — get it?). Which, you know, makes sense — a movie that millions of children will watch isn't likely to star a kid who sets himself on fire. But I don't want to make Incredibles sound like a swipe of Fantastic Four. ... Instead, the movie uses the superhero genre's conventions, tropes and clichés— many of which FF epitomized or created — to tell a rousing and sometimes touching story. How could you do a superhero family story and NOT reference the original First Family of comics?”

An 'Incredible' Pinay Animator:
The Philippine Daily Inquirer has this interview with animator Virginia “Gini” Cruz Santos, who “had an important hand in bringing characters from Toy Story 2, A Bug's Life, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles to life. ... She [says] that animating superheroes is definitely a huge departure from doing the lead female fish in Finding Nemo, Dory. 'Oh, it's night and day! It's a lot more work. There are a lot of us in the animation department that love comic books. We got to do the extreme hero poses. The nice thing too about it was animating the characters like regular humans.' She worked on the characters Elastigirl (voiced by Holly Hunter) and her super-kids, as well as Frozone (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson) and some very specific scenes. 'The nice thing about Pixar is, they encourage us, like 'If there's a particular character that interests you, let us know.' I remember seeing the cave sequence, and saying, 'I really wanna work on that one!'' Santos says it was an understandably demanding job to work with director-writer Brad Bird, who helmed one of her all-time cartoon movie faves, Iron Giant. 'Standards were really high. I wouldn't say it was fun, but I'm saying that in a positive way, because he challenged all of us. But what made it easy was, everything was set. It was just up to us to add nuances to the acting. The first thing I told Brad after watching it in the wrap party was, 'Wow, I have to say, I actually forgot that we worked on it, and I watched it like a regular film,'' she says.”

Creator of Superhero ‘The Flash' Dies at 88
The death of Harry Lampert, who began his career at Fleischer Studios, in New York, was fairly widely reported, though it largely focused on his role as the creator of The Flash. Though his career at Fleischer was rather aborted, he did play a key role in the unionization of the studio and the 1937 strike. When I talked to him back in the 1980s, he actually seemed prouder of his role as author of a number of best-selling books on the game of bridge, which was one of his real passions. One of the more accurate obituaries is this one from The Associated Press, which notes, “He began drawing professionally at 16, inking cartoons at Fleischer Studios in New York for characters such as Popeye, Betty Boop and KoKo the Clown. Six years later, Lampert created the DC Comics original "Flash Comics .1" in 1940, collaborating with writer Gardner Fox. The first-edition featuring the physics-defying superhero has become a classic among comic book collectors. "He based it on the character in mythology (Hermes) ... the wings on his feet," said daughter Karen Lampert Akavan. "He had no idea how big it would be." ... After retiring in Florida [after a career in cartooning and advertising], Lampert was known as an avid bridge player. He became president of the American Bridge Teachers Association, and wrote several books on the subject including The Fun Way to Serious Bridge, largely considered a bible of the game.” See also this obituary in The Palm Beach Post.

New York Becomes ‘Toontown'
The Boca Raton (Florida) News reports, “It’s been a while since the likes of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Goofy, Mickey Mouse and Yosemite Sam enthralled crowds at the International Museum of Cartoon Art in Boca Raton. Those famous and classic cartoon characters have been in storage since the museum closed down in July of 2002. But they’ll soon have a new home — in New York’s Empire State Building. Mort Walker, former operator of the Cartoon Museum and owner of the valuable art collection, confirmed Monday that the animated characters will take up residence on three floors of the famed 34th Street skyscraper. They will occupy a space formerly leased by a men’s clothing store.”

Asian Film-makers Still Favour Traditional Movie-making over CGI
In its story explaining why, Channel News Asia notes, “Singaporean film-maker Eric Khoo, whose movie 12-Storeys is the first Singapore feature to be shown in Cannes, believes that CGI animation in Asia is still in its infancy. 'Basically with CGI animation, I haven't seen anything coming from Asia per se, to be viewed as pretty strong work (flash or overlay). Somehow I don't think we've gotten the real knack for it at this point. I don't think they stand up as good as some of the Hollywood films,' said Khoo, local director and producer. Then there's the talk of budget constraints. But even in Bollywood, where there are big bucks to spend on making movies, they aren't quite attracted to these special effects. 'I think there's a strong culture in Bollywood movies and it's pandering to their market and it's very localised,' said Fong.”

In Brief ...
Disney Booting up 'Toy Story 3': According to The Hollywood Reporter (also here), “Walt Disney Studios is actively moving ahead with its long-in-discussion sequel to Pixar Animation's two Toy Story movies, a move that could bring Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the gang back to the big screen. Disney is in the process of setting up a digital animation facility in Glendale, not all that far from DreamWorks Animation's digs, that will be used for the production of Toy Story 3. ... Coming Soon: Desi Walt Disney Films: The Financial Express reports, “The Walt Disney Company wants to make original desi animation films and TV shows in India for the world market, as against the outsourcing model prevalent in the industry, it is learnt. In effect, everything will be Indian, from start to finish, in these films. Walt Disney indicated its interest in the country’s animation sector, when an entertainment industry delegation from India met Disney president and chief operating officer (COO) Bob Iger in Los Angeles last week. The team from India visited big-time film studios in the US.”

November 15, 2004
Polar Express Sets Imax Record
Reuters reports (also here), “Tom Hanks' holiday movie The Polar Express has set an opening weekend record for a Hollywood film released in Imax Corp.'s giant screen format, the company's co-chief executive said Monday. Brad Wechsler said the film grossed $2.1 million over the weekend in 59 North American Imax theaters for a total of $3 million in receipts since Wednesday. 'We're extremely pleased in terms of its absolute performance in Imax. We've set a new weekend record for us ... we've had a ton of sold out shows and our advance sales to consumers have been great,' Wechsler told Reuters. ... [He] said the movie has outperformed other Hollywood films released simultaneously in the Imax format and regular theaters, including the Harry Potter and Matrix sequels. 'Polar Express opened to impressive Imax box office and is likely to have legs in Imax, in our view. We believe the films' performance will make exhibitors and studios take more notice of Imax,' Soleil Research Associates analyst Marla Backer said in a note to clients.”

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
Michael Rechtshaffen in The Hollywood Reporter feels that, “Expertly navigating the tricky waters of feature adaptation like the can-do sea sponge that he is, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie proves that it's possible to go from cozy TV series to the much more demanding expanse of the big screen without losing any of the little yellow guy's wide-eyed irreverence. While other cartoons have taken the plunge with mixed results, creator/director/co-screenwriter Stephen Hillenburg has been careful not to draw his lovably goofy protagonist too far out of his depths. The result is an animated adventure that's funnier than Shark Tale and more charming than The Polar Express.” Meanwhile, Sun Media has this interview with SpongeBob creator Stephen Hillenburg.“'I started off wanting to do a show starring this little invertebrate optimist,' Hillenburg says. The design was simple, if colourful, with SpongeBob as a simple, square, household sponge. The tone of his work was based on the ideas embedded in the work of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, as well as in early Jerry Lewis movies. Like them, SpongeBob would be an innocent braving a hostile world; he survived without maturing or growing cynical himself. And the slapstick style was inspired by the classic Warner Bros. Looney Tunes of Tex Avery, Bob Clampett and the boys at Termite Terrace.”

At the Mall, Mixing Popcorn and Religion
The Washington Post in visiting a theater showing Mohammed: The Last Prophet says, “Up they go. Past the Tropik Sun, the Radio Shack, the T-Mobile kiosk, families rush to their seats in the Regal theater, bags of popcorn and sodas in hand. It's Eid al-Fitr (pronounced EED-al-FITTER) — the Festival of Fast-Breaking, marking the end of the month-long Ramadan — and, for the first time, a very exciting time, a very important time, there's a film to help celebrate it. Muhammad: The Last Prophet — a lush, solemn, 90-minute animated film directed by Disney veteran Richard Rich (The Fox and the Hound and The Black Cauldron) — made its U.S. debut yesterday, showing in about 40 cities in 86 theaters nationwide, four of them in Northern Virginia. The English-language film has been released in a handful of countries, including Lebanon, Jordan, Malaysia and Turkey, with subtitles. But 9/11 came, and the $10 million film — produced by Badr International and financed by Saudi investors — was shelved in the United States. ... The film is not a big Hollywood production, [Oussama Jammal, the distributing company's owner] says, certainly nothing like The Passion of the Christ. Still, word of mouth among the estimated 150,000 Muslims, Arab and non-Arab, in the Washington area, paying $12 a ticket, is expected to fill theaters until Thursday, when the run ends. For the past week, volunteers like Yahya Fouz, a 23-year-old law student, and 24-year-old Sajjad Ahmad, a software tester, have been helping sell tickets; their cell phone numbers are posted on Fine Media Group's Web site.” See also this report in The New York Times, which notes that “for thousands of Muslims who flocked to ... theaters [showing the film], the American premiere of Muhammad: The Last Prophet, was unquestionably a landmark cultural event.”

UNESCO Takes Cartoons to Kenya
AFP reports, “The United Nations educational agency has launched an initiative to bring a popular international art form to the continent of Africa, where homegrown examples are rarely to be found — the cartoon film. Already an experiment conducted in July has yielded encouraging results after trainees produced seven short animated films after an introductory course of just five weeks. According to Alonso Aznar, regional communication and information counsellor in east Africa for the UN educational, scientific and cultural organisation UNESCO, normally it would take six months to a year of training to achieve a similar result. ... UNESCO plans to launch a new training course in the early part of next year and is looking for financial help to set up an African animated films production centre, Aznar said.”

In Brief ...
After 'The Incredibles,' Pixar Can Afford to Play Hard-to-Get: According to The New York Times, “Anyone expecting Pixar to pounce on the success of The Incredibles to strike a distribution deal, much as DreamWorks Animation took advantage of the recent box office success of Shark Tale to quickly roll out its initial public offering, would be mistaken.” One of the reasons is “What [Steve] Jobs described as 'musical chairs among the studios' is a prime reason for Pixar's lack of urgency.” This includes Sherry Lansing stepping down next year as head of Paramount and, more importantly, Michael Eisner departure from Disney in 2006. ... Artist Gives Animated Talk on Pixar: New York University's The Washington Square News has this report on a talk on campus given by The Incredibles animator John Kahrs. “'Animation is really tedious,' Kahrs said. 'Sometimes you can work really hard for a long time at something and get nothing.'” ... A Woman of Many Voices: The Ann Arbor News has this interview with voice-over artist Pamela Lewis, who is based in Ann Arbor, who says, "I'm doing commercials and promos and talking toys and voices in Web sites, and I'm doing political commercials, and cartoons and CD-ROM games.”

November 14, 2004
'Incredibles' Ices 'Polar' at Box Office
Reuters reports, “In the battle of computer-animated cartoons, The Incredibles held onto the top slot at the weekend box office in North America, while the costly Tom Hanks holiday movie The Polar Express pulled in at a distant No. 2, according to studio estimates issued on Sunday. The Incredibles ... sold about $51 million worth of tickets in the three days beginning Friday, said a spokesman for Walt Disney Co. ... Its 10-day total soared to $144.1 million, which is how much Pixar's previous effort, Finding Nemo, made at the same time in its release cycle last summer. That film ended up with $340 million. Disney distribution president Chuck Viane was confident the new film would reach that level, helped by a paucity of family movies in theaters. The Polar Express, which reportedly cost $270 million to make and market, opened with a modest $23.5 million for the weekend, distributor Warner Bros. Pictures said. Since its release on Wednesday, it has earned $30.8 million.” ... Box Office Prophets asks, “Is The Polar Express, with its reported $165 million production budget, going to be considered a disappointment? Not yet. If the film chucks large next weekend, WB could have a mess on its hands, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

Pow! It's an Incredible Victory for Morality
The Sunday Times of London reports that, “A family of superheroes who defy mediocrity to defeat the bad guys and save the world from tyranny are being hailed as Hollywood standard-bearers of middle America’s values. After the re-election of President George W Bush by voters who ranked moral issues above terrorism, the economy and Iraq, the hit film The Incredibles has caught the national mood. Just as Bush supporters believe that the president will always follow his conscience, so will Mr Incredible, the beefy family man who cannot be forced to punch beneath his weight for long, and his wife Elastigirl, who bends but does not snap under pressure. It is as if Hollywood had found the perfect vehicle for the Republican-voting 'red' states. In its opening weekend, immediately after the November 2 elections, the animated film from Pixar and Walt Disney took $70.5m at the box office. 'Now we’re in a post- November 2 universe, the themes of The Incredibles look downright prescient,' wrote the film critic of National Review, a conservative magazine.” ... Liberals are dismayed by the cultural hijacking of a medium that they had once owned. Ted Rall, a newspaper cartoonist, said: 'It’s kind of ironic that superheroes now have these fascist, right-wing connotations. The right has stolen our flag and our superheroes, too'.”

Big in Japan, but Made in the U.S.A.
Hi Hi Puffy AmyYumi. The New York Times notes, “Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi, which has its debut on Friday on the Cartoon Network, is an animated series based on two real Japanese pop stars, Ami Onuki and Yumi Yoshimura, a k a Puffy Ami Yumi. In Japan they're known simply as Puffy, but North America already has a Puffy. They have been familiar faces since 1996, when 'Ajia no Junshin' ('True Asia') their debut single in imitation of the group E.L.O., sold more than a million copies. Like most Japanese pop acts, the group is nearly unknown in the United States, which is what the new cartoon is intended to change. For this is no Japanese import; their Japanese fans won't even see it. Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi is a made-in-the-U.S.A. cartoon intended to turn average American kids into fans of a Japanese pop group. ... Given the success Cartoon Network has had with its Toonami block of Japanese animation from 7 to 11 on Saturday nights and the continuing success of syndicated series like Yu-Gi-Oh! and Digimon, it would be natural to expect Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi to resemble anime. But its look is more Ren & Stimpy than Ruroni Kenshin ... with garish colors, simple character designs and a general lack of visual clutter. Likewise, the plots tend toward the simple slapstick of American kidvid- no surprise, given the show's intended audience, 6 to 11.”

Naked Samoans' Toon 'Bro' Is a Go with Kiwis
According to Variety, “After years of low to average ratings for Kiwi comedies, CanWest Mediaworks TV3 in New Zealand has found its biggest hit with bro'Town, the country's first adult-skewed animated primetime series. Written and voiced by comedy theater group the Naked Samoans — Oscar Kightley, Dave Fane, Shimpal Lelisi and Mario Gaoa — bro'Town chronicles the misadventures of five teenagers growing up in Auckland. ... Chief executive Rick Friesen is ecstatic with the firstrun of six episodes for bro'Town, which has drawn up to 70% of the 15-29 audience and around 35% of the wider TV3 target, ages 18-39. ... By the standards of Kiwi budgets, its NZ$400,000 ($277,000) per half hour is high.” 10% of its budget comes from product placement and 60% from the government.

In Brief ...
Animated Film Tells Story of Muhammad: NPR's All Things Considered has this audio of an interview with Oussama Jammal, distributor of Muhammad: The Last Prophet. ... Local Boy Rides 'Polar Express': The Cincinnati Enquirer has this interview with 12-year-old Union, Kentucky native Josh Hutcherson who “portrayed Hero Boy, a youngster swept away on a magical train ride to the North Pole on Christmas Eve in [The Polar Express,] the movie based on the beloved 1985 book by Chris Van Allsburg.” ... Holiday Animated Film Features Teen Voices: The Bristol (Connecticut) Press has this talk with “Bristol resident Emily Aviles [who] will be featured as the voice-over for character Dr. Joe in the [half-hour] TV film, It’s Christmas, Dr. Joe!”

November 13, 2004
The Spongebob Squarepants Movie
Todd McCarthy in Variety says, “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie takes on rather too much water during its extended feature-length submersion. Stephen Hillenburg's enormously clever and appealing animated creation, which has been one of the Nickelodeon channel's biggest hits since debuting in 1999, still possesses charm, as well as visual and musical appeal, on the bigscreen. But as with many short-form TV entities when sextupled in length, SpongeBob proves more palatable as scrumptious fast food than full-scale repast. Still, B.O. should prove absorbent with the target audience through Thanksgiving and slightly beyond, with much more in store down the line as a home entertainment staple.”

Muhammad: The Last Prophet
Stephen Whitty in The Newark Star-Ledger Staff, in reviewing the animated feature, feels “Muhammad: The Last Prophet ... has a harder time than Christian films. For one thing, Islam prohibits the depiction of religious figures — a prohibition which means this film about Muhammad isn't allowed to show him. For another, passions among the faith's factions run high — a concern that discourages any remotely controversial teaching. The result is a film about as bland — and appealing — as cold porridge. Because Muhammad is never shown, we never get any sense of him as a man. Because doctrinal fights have to be avoided, many characters and cultural conflicts — at least to non-Muslims — will remain unclear. ... The animation — designed by the same folks who gave us the awful recent The King and I, and outsourced to Korea — is crude and colorless. The voice actors all sound a little like Ernest Borgnine, hardly the sort of thing to transport you back to ancient Arabia.”

Citroen C4's Transformer Dance
Citroen C4 commercial Carpages asks, “How do you make a car dance? Hire hit making superstar Justin Timberlake’s choreographer, Marty Kudelka, cyber scan a brand new Citroen C4 using lasers to create a perfect 3D model and spend two months using the latest film industry animation techniques as used by the likes of Pixar to create a car/transformer with all the right moves. The resulting 30 second TV commercial was conceived by the Citroen creative team at agency Euro RSCG’s London office, produced by Spy Films in Toronto, with animation undertaken by Vancouver based post production VFX house, the Embassy. ... The commercial breaks on Britain’s TV screens on November 15th, the Citroen C4’s UK on-sale date, and the multi million pound campaign runs right through to the end of December.”

Popeye the Sailor Man Turns 75
The Associated Press reports, “Put away the cake. Pass the spinach. Popeye celebrates his 75th birthday this year, animated evidence that a steady diet of leafy green vegetables and pipe smoking can guarantee you Hulk Hogan forearms as a septuagenarian. To honor the veteran sailor man, the Museum of Television and Radio unveiled a retrospective Saturday featuring rarities and collectibles from the cartoon hero's career. 'There are very few characters that are that old and still in the public consciousness,' said Barry Monush, curator of the exhibit. 'It's quite impressive to stick around that long and stay recognizable. ... Popeye was launched in 1929, debuting in a minor role in the comic strip


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