April 1-9, 2000 News

Saturday, April 1, 2000

Click here for the April Fool's Edition of Animation Artist

Sunday, April 2, 2000

Hollywood Union Cartoonists to Picket
Hundreds of professional Hollywood cartoonists, all members of the Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists, Local 839 IATSE, will be carrying angry cartoon picket signs as they protest against KCET at 4401 Sunset Blvd. as well as PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) on Thursday, April 13, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Their dispute is about the significant amount of animation and cartoon work being lost by union members from runaway work contracted to foreign countries by PBS, a broadcast entity the union claims should be loyal to American workers since it is funded and supported by U.S. tax dollars. These exported working funds, the Union stated, are putting American screen cartoonists out of business.

The Union pointed out that PBS has partnered with Montreal-based CINAR Corp. to produce "Arthur," "Wimzie's House," "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" and "The Adventures of Paddington Bear." CINAR's co-founders recently resigned, and their CFO was fired, after the company's board discovered that $122 million in funds was improperly invested

Monday, April 3, 2000

DreamWorks Farms Out Chicken Run Site
DreamWorks is continuing to farm out Websites of its movies to e-commerce companies instead of having an in-house team produce their sites. Variety reports that Reel.com has been given the duties of building the Website for DreamWorks animated Chicken Run movie. Chicken Run opens in theaters on June 23, 2000.

Estimates Disappointing for El Dorado
Weekend Box Office estimates show The Road to El Dorado bringing in $12.5 million. This is the lowest opening of a DreamWorks animated film, bringing in less money on its opening weekend than ANTZ or The Prince of Egypt even though it opened on more screens. The Road to El Dorado has opened to highly mixed, but mostly negative, reviews. Most critics call the film highly visual and funny, but lacking in story and depth.

Tuesday, April 4, 2000

Box Office Results
Here are the Box Office results for last weekend's animated films:

The Road to El Dorado
$12.8 Million ($3,992 per screen average)
2nd at the Box Office (opening weekend)
Total to Date: $12.8 Million

Fantasia 2000
$1.25 Million ($23,292 per screen average)
14th at the Box Office (down from #12 last weekend)
Total to Date: $38.1 Million

The Tigger Movie
$388,145 Million ($554 per screen average)
19th at the Box Office (down from #15 last weekend)
Total to Date: $43.8 Million

Toy Story 2
$256,719 ($760 per screen average)
23th at the Box Office (up from #30 last weekend)
Total to Date: $242.6 Million

DreamWorks Teams with Max Howard
Seasoned animation producer and executive Max Howard has signed a first-look production deal with DreamWorks, it was jointly announced today, by DreamWorks principal Jeffrey Katzenberg and Max Howard.

Launching his new production company, Melwood Pictures, Howard will be developing both live-action and animated features. In taking on this new role, he will be stepping down from his producing chores on DreamWorks Pictures' upcoming animated release "Spirit, Stallion of the Cimarron."

In making the announcement, Katzenberg said, "Max is a very talented individual, and I expect great things from his new venture. I am looking forward to collaborating with him on future film projects he will be bringing to DreamWorks."

Howard stated, "Through this move, Jeffrey has helped me to fulfill a long held dream to run my own production company. To do so while staying within the DreamWorks family is truly the best of both worlds. With 'Spirit ... ' well into production -- and looking amazing, I must say -- the timing could not be better, and I am excited to start exploring new pathways in my career."

Max Howard came to DreamWorks from Warner Bros. where he was President of Feature Animation. During his tenure, the studio produced the award-winning animated feature "The Iron Giant," as well as "Quest for Camelot" and the hit "Space Jam," which teamed Michael Jordan with Warner Bros. cartoon favorites, including Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. He had previously worked with Jeffrey Katzenberg at the Walt Disney Company, beginning in 1986, when Howard became the head of the London Animation Studio for the making of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit."

Relocating to the United States in 1988, he was appointed Director of Feature Animation at the new studio at Walt Disney World in Florida, and was then promoted to Vice President. Later moving up to Senior Vice President, Howard oversaw the strategic planning and operations for Walt Disney Feature Animation's three facilities in Los Angeles, Orlando and Paris.

Wednesday, April 5, 2000

Here Comes Pokemon GS and Cubix
4Kids Entertainment Inc., and Kids'WB!, the No. 1 kid's network, announced that Pokemon GS will be added to its fall schedule and Cubix, 4Kids' newest show, to its midseason schedule.

Pokemon GS is the newest evolution of the Kids' WB! megahit and No. 1 show on television for kids. This new series will follow Ash and his friends as they take viewers on an adventurous new quest into unknown land, introducing at least 100 never-before-seen new Pokemon characters. The series will be catapulted by the summer movie premier and will tie in with the long-awaited launch of the Pokemon Gold and Silver Game Boy games from Nintendo of North America, Inc. Kids'WB! reported that on Saturday, March 18th, the network's "Pick Your Favorite Pokemon" morning special delivered record-high ratings among the key demographics of kids age 2-11, Kids age 6-11, Boys age 2-11 and Boys age 6-11, posting the highest Kids 2-11 rating any network has delivered in two years. The network also posted its strongest ratings among Girls age 2-11 and Girls age 6-11.

Cubix, 4Kids Entertainment's newest show and 4Kids Productions newest co-production project, takes place in Bubble Town, a "normal" city on the far edge of the Universe, where the motto is simple... "a robot for everyone!" Robots are a part of everyday, ordinary life, such as directing traffic, dispensing popcorn, fighting fires and even teaching school! One day a lonely boy named Bobby scavenged the robot junkyard and made the greatest discovery-his new best friend, Cubix, a discarded one-of-a-kind prototype powered by a unique energy source from another world that provides him with special powers. Bobby, Cubix and their friends solve mysteries, catch criminals and go on hair-raising adventures. Cubix is a futuristic story of action adventure and uncommon friendship.

In addition to the new Pokemon series airing on Saturday mornings, the lineup will include the return of the Pokemon phenomenon with a library of 102 episodes. The Kids'WB! Monday-Thursday schedule will include Pokemon twice a day at 7:00am/ET and 4:00pm.

"Strong partners, help make strong properties," stated Al Kahn CEO and Chairman of 4Kids Entertainment, Inc. "Kids'WB! has done a terrific job in programming and promoting Pokemon, it was natural for us to consider them our first choice for our newest series "Cubix."

The Company noted that "Cubix", one of the company's anticipated new properties, is a new series utilizing an advanced form of CGI, Computer Generated Imaging.

"We are very excited to once again be partnering with 4Kids Entertainment on this new venture," said Donna Friedman, Senior Vice President, Kids' WB! "Cubix is a big idea that has big possibilities. Its distinctive CGI look combined with the network's core ingredients of high adventure, humor and heart make it a perfect fit for Kids' WB!"

Thursday, April 6, 2000

Warner Bros. Classic Animation to open Festival
Warner Bros. Classic Animation's animated short "Little Go Beep" has been selected as the opening night animated short and a category finalist at the 33rd Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival being held in Houston from April 7th-16th. Additionally, three Warner Bros. Classic Animation-produced commercials have been selected as finalists in the Television Commercials-Animated (Cel Animation) competition. The awards will be announced on Saturday, April 15.

"Little Go Beep," one of four finalists selected from a field of more than 60 entries, is competing in the Short Subject--Animated (Cel Animation) category. The theatrical short introduces Wile E. Coyote's proud father, Cage E. Coyote, a champion hunter (voiced by the legendary Stan Freberg), who decides that it's time to pass the torch to his offspring - even if he is still in diapers! Wile E. is then sent out into the world to catch the most prized animal of all, the Road Runner - thus beginning a lifelong obsession! "Little Go Beep" was directed by Spike Brandt, written by Earl Kress and produced by Spike Brandt and Kathleen Helppie-Shipley for Warner Bros. Classic Animation.

In the Television Commercials-Animated (Cel Animation) competition, Warner Bros. Classic Animation's efforts on "Tweety," directed by Jeff Siergey, for MCI 5 cent Sundays, MCI Worldcom Telecommunications, "Fish," directed by T.J. House, featuring Sylvester and Hector the Dog, for MCI Worldcom Telecommunications and "Twister," directed by Frank Molieri, featuring the Tasmanian Devil, for Chevrolet Monte Carlo, have been named finalists.

"We are extremely proud of our nominations and of being chosen to help celebrate the opening of this year's WorldFest celebration," said Kathleen Helppie-Shipley, Senior Vice President, Warner Bros. Classic Animation. "It is extremely rewarding for our efforts to be recognized by such an established film festival."

Celebrating it's 33rd year, WorldFest-Houston will present independent films, shorts and commercials, representing 14 countries, during the 10-day event in April. One of the longest-running independent film festivals in the world, WorldFest has the distinction of having had the same director for their entire 33-year run.

Warner Bros. Classic Animation is an award-winning boutique arm of the Warner Bros. Animation family. The classic animation unit specializes in commercial animation as well as adapting animation of the legendary Looney Tunes, DC Comics, Hanna-Barbera and Warner Bros. Television Animation characters for specialized use within entertainment venues. The classic unit produces animated theatrical shorts and theme park featurettes as well as the animation for numerous on-air promos, logos, public service announcements and special projects servicing the entire Time Warner company.

Friday, April 7, 2000

Cinar Investigation Hits Roadblock
CP is reporting, "An RCMP investigation into Cinar Corp. has hit a roadblock because the federal government will not release the animation company's tax-credit application.

The RCMP said Thursday its tax-fraud probe has stalled because it cannot obtain documents from the Canadian Audio-Visual Certification Office (CAVCO), a division of the Department of Canadian Heritage, because the information is confidential, the National Post reported. CAVCO reviews and certifies tax-credit applications.

A spokeswoman for CAVCO, which jointly administers a federal tax-credit program with Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, confirmed CAVCO is unable to hand over the documents because the information is considered private and is protected under section 241 of the Income Tax Act."

Click here for the full story.

Saturday, April 8, 2000

The Road to El Dorado 5th on Friday
The Road to El Dorado came in 5th place at the Box Office on Friday, bringing in $1.9 million. With no other family films in theaters, the animated movie is expected to have a low drop-off rate from last weekend.

Lara Croft Gets Live Action Counter Part
Lara Croft, the animated star of Tomb Raider video games, now has a live action counter part. Oscar winning actress Angelina Jolie has been cast to play Lara Croft in the upcoming Tomb Raider movie. Filming begins this summer in the U.K.

Important Announcement Coming Tomorrow
On Sunday, subscribers to the Animation Artist Newsletter will receive a letter from the editor and publisher of Animation Artist Magazine regarding advanced notice of an important announcement being made by Animation Artist Magazine on Monday. To sign up for the newsletter, click here.

Sunday, April 9, 2000

Los Angeles Times Syndicate: "Pinocchio is Beyond Criticism"
The Los Angeles Times Syndicate is running a review stating that the anniversary edition of Pinocchio is beyond criticism. The article begins:

"Without a doubt - or perhaps arguably is a better word - Walt Disney's tale of a fibbing wooden puppet who wanted to be a real, live little boy is his most stunning animated feature - Snow White, the original Fantasia or Dumbo notwithstanding.

It is also difficult to believe that this year celebrates the 60th anniversary of its theatrical release. Perhaps that is because Pinocchio (Walt Disney Home Video, 1940, animation, Technicolor, 88 minutes, closed captioned, rated G, $22.99; DVD for $29.99) is a true masterpiece that delivers pure pathos, a little terror and total delight no matter how many times you see it.

Pinocchio is a genuine classic nearly so perfect that it is beyond criticism. And then, there is always a new generation waiting to see it."

Click here to read the rest of the article.

The Road to El Dorado Jumps to Third on Saturday
The Road to El Dorado placed third on Saturday, bringing in $4 million. On Friday, The Road to El Dorado declined a drastic 48% from the previous Friday. Saturday's numbers were much better for the DreamWorks animated film that is all alone in the family offerings at theaters.

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