August 1-6, 2000 News

Tuesday, August 1, 2000

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

Pokemon 2000 $6.2 Million ($2,254 per screen average - massive 68% drop)
6th at the Box Office (down from #3 last weekend)
Total to Date: $33 Million

Chicken Run $3.4 Million ($1,342 per screen average - 25% drop)
10th at the Box Office (down from #9 last weekend)
Total to Date: $92.8 Million

Titan A.E. $129,294 ($416 per screen average - low 2% drop)
31st at the Box Office (also #31 last weekend)
Total to Date: $22.3 Million

Dinosaur $124,029 ($490 per screen average - 30% decrease)
33rd at the Box Office (down from #23 last weekend)
Total to Date: $133.5 Million

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Final Fantasy Costs Reach $100 Million
According to Monday's Wall Street Journal, Square Inc. has spent $100 million to date on its animated Final Fantasy film. Quoted in the Wall Street Journal, the director of the movie, Hironobu Sakaguchi, said "It's a big gamble. We're confident that we'll succeed, but if we fail, it could do major damage to us as a company and Japan as a whole."

What will make Final Fantasy succeed or fail at the Box Office? Click here to post your opinion.

Wednesday, August 2, 2000

Raymond Eugene "Gene" Portwood Jr. Dies
According to the LA Times:

"Raymond Eugene "Gene" Portwood Jr., a Disney animator and innovative computer artist who helped create the landmark learning game 'Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?' has died at the age of 66.

Portwood died July 17 of a heart attack in a Windsor, Calif., convalescent center...A native of Chicago, Portwood grew up in Burbank, where he showed an early talent for drawing cartoon characters. Skipping college, he joined the Disney animation team, which then consisted of 200 artists, in 1950."

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DreamWorks Makes Official Joseph
Announcement From DreamWorks:

"From the creators of the Academy Award-winning (Best Song) box-office hit The Prince Of Egypt comes an all-new animated movie, DreamWorks' Joseph: King of Dreams debuting exclusively on home video and DVD November 7.

Produced by DreamWorks' feature film animation studio -- in the tradition of The Prince Of Egypt, 1999's #1 best-selling holiday video and the third best-selling video of the year -- Joseph: King of Dreams is a stirring and inspirational motion picture based on one of the most classic stories of all time.

Close to three years in the making, this epic adventure features the stellar voice talents of Ben Affleck, Mark Hamill, Steven Weber, and Judith Light.

Joseph: King of Dreams also features five all-new songs brought to life by the singing talents of Jodi Benson, who immortalized The Little Mermaid; multi-award-winning singing sensation David Campbell; and Grammy Award winner and music industry legend Maureen McGovern.

Joseph: King of Dreams is priced at $24.99 for the VHS and $26.99 for the DVD. Street date is Nov. 7 and prebook is Sept. 11, 2000.

DVD
In keeping with their proven track record of producing top-rated DVDs, DreamWorks Home Entertainment has worked with the filmmakers to create fantastic bonus programming for this DVD premiere. Including features for the entire family, the DVD will have fun sing-along songs programming, and a DVD-ROM component offering an interactive trivia game and downloadable activity sheets, coloring sheets and holiday cards. In addition, there will be cast and crew bios, production notes, theatrical marketing materials and other surprises.

"JOSEPH" Film Synopsis
Based on a classic tale known the world over, Joseph: King of Dreams is a stirring story of family and forgiveness. An inspiring musical adventure, Joseph: King of Dreams retells the fascinating story of a boy whose extraordinary gift of seeing the future in his dreams sparks a deep division in his family. The jealousy of his brothers sends Joseph to faraway Egypt, where he is suddenly thrown into a world of high adventure, hidden intrigue and blossoming romance. In this new land, the Pharaoh enlists Joseph to interpret his royal dreams and save Egypt from disaster. Joseph is rewarded with honor and status, and as he rises to power, Joseph finds love and happiness. But when a sudden twist of fate reunites Joseph with his brothers, Joseph must face decisions of forgiveness.

Joseph: King of Dreams is directed by Robert Ramirez and Rob LaDuca and produced by Ken Tsumura, with a screenplay by Eugenia Bostwick-Singer, Raymond Singer, Joe Stillman and Marshall Goldberg. Five all new songs featured in Joseph: King of Dreams are by John Bucchino and the score was composed and orchestrated by Danny Pelfrey. The executive producers are Penney Finkelman Cox, Steve Hickner and Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Thursday, August 3, 2000

Chicken Run to Become Video Game
Like many other animated movies, Chicken Run is set to become a video game. THQ Inc. has announced an agreement with Blitz Games to publish and distribute "Chicken Run" for Game Boy Color. The game will be released worldwide in fall 2000.

"Chicken Run" for Game Boy Color is a mission-based adventure allowing players to maneuver through each level as Ginger, the movie's hero. Based on the movie, Ginger's objective in the game is to lead "Hut 17" and the rest of the chickens on the farm in their escape from the perils of Mr. and Mrs. Tweedy's chicken pie machine. Each level will feature movie-inspired environments and obstacles that Ginger can use to lead her friends to freedom.

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August Video Releases: Tigger and Mononoke
Disney's The Tigger Movie will be released to VHS and DVD on August 22. The DVD will include bonus features including the music video "Your Heart Will Lead You Home," a DVD story book, trivia game, sing along, and "create your family tree" adventure.

Also this month, on August 29, Princess Mononoke will be released on VHS, but the price tag will be a massive $103. This is because Buena Vista is trying to profit extra money from video stores who are forced to buy the titles in order to rent them. On January 1, 2001, Buena Vista will drop the price to try and attract consumer purchases. Also on January 1, 2001, Buena Vista will release the DVD of Princess Mononoke. The DVD will include the theatrical trailers, widescreen formatting, and a behind the scenes feature.

Friday, August 4, 2000

Dragon's Lair Keeps Expanding
Capcom today announced plans to release Dragon's Lair for Game Boy Color in November. Dragon's Lair, a mainstay in the interactive entertainment industry for 17 years, has generated more than 117 million dollars in revenue and has been enjoyed by more than 300 million people around the world. It is one of only three video games ever admitted into the Smithsonian Institution (the other two being Pong and Pac Man). In Dragon's Lair, players control the actions of Dirk the Daring, a valiant knight on a quest to rescue the fair princess Daphne, from the clutches of an evil dragon. Players must fight their way through the Castle of the Dark Wizard filled with treacherous monsters and obstacles. The Game Boy Color version is based on the original arcade game and contains all the splendor of the original full motion video. Dragon's Lair for Game Boy Color is developed by Digital Eclipse.

"Players will be stunned when they see the quality of animation on Game Boy Color. It's amazing!" said Todd Thorson, director of Marketing, Capcom Entertainment. "Dragon's Lair is incredibly popular and gameplay on this version perfectly recreates the arcade original."

The original Dragon's Lair took six years to develop and was first released in June 1983 for the coin-operated arcade. Dragon's Lair was the collaborative creation of Don Bluth, Rick Dyer, Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy. Dragon's Lair was a hit from the start. It earned more than $30 million in sales in the first 40 days of its arcade release in 1983 and grossed more than $32 million dollars in the first eight months. At the time, the 22 minutes of full animation cost $1.3 million dollars to produce. Dragon's Lair was truly a revolutionary game at its introduction; the first game comprised entirely of interactive full motion animation running off a laser disc.

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Chicken Run Passes $95 Million Mark
DreamWorks/Aardman claymated Chicken Run movie passed the $95 million mark on Thursday. Within the next six days the film is expected to pass the $100 million mark on its way to becoming the most successful non-Disney animated film ever at the U.S. Box Office.

Saturday, August 5, 2000

Fox Interactive Kills Titan A.E. Game
Fox Interactive has officially ceased all work on its Titan A.E. game that had been in development for several months with the Playstation version due in stores this December. However, after the animated film lost millions of dollars, due to a very poor Box Office performance, the decision was made to cease all production on the game.

Sunday, August 6, 2000

Pixar Complains About Growing SPAM Problem
According to ABC News:

"Peter Kaldis, a systems support manager for Pixar Animation Studios in Richmond, Calif., estimates he gets about 100 e-mails per day, some 25 percent of which are junk e-mails offering everything from get-rich-quick schemes to entry to pornographic Web sites and sham cures for cancer.

The company-wide infestation of 'spam,' or unsolicited e-mail, eats up time, resources and disk space, Kaldis said.

Kaldis clearly is not alone. The problem plagues thousands, if not millions, of Internet users and has spawned companies and nonprofit groups whose sole purposes are to help Internet service providers block spam..."

Click here for the full story.

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