June 19-25, 2000 News

Monday, June 19, 2000

Threshold Preparing New Animated Film
Threshold Digital Research Labs (TDRL), a subsidiary of Threshold Entertainment, today announced start of production of its first digitally animated feature film, FOODFIGHT! Threshold has raised equity financing for the $50 million film with an infusion of investment capital from Korean animation company Natural Image. Both companies will share animation responsibilities, with TDRL heading up the 3D digital effort using its global network of animators working from its Santa Monica headquarters.

FOODFIGHT! reveals the real deal of what happens in the supermarket at night when all the people leave. Product icons come alive in a "wild city" and head towards the hottest club in town, the Copabanana. All's well until Brand X moves into town. The film follows the epic adventures of hundreds of branded characters from the familiar packages of products including Dex Detective, Daredevil Dan, Mr. Clean, Twinkie the Kid and others as they battle for control of the store.

"This is the most complex digitally animated film ever undertaken, with thousands of different characters and hundreds of sets,” says Threshold chairman and CEO, Larry Kasanoff. “We've searched the world for the best talent and have found extraordinary 3-D animation talent in Korea. We are proud to be working with Natural Image to make FOODFIGHT!”

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Dr. Doolittle TV Animated Series Being Discussed
Nelvana Limited announced last week that it has acquired the development, production, distribution and associated merchandise licensing rights for animated television programming, based on the celebrated 13-book series, Doctor Dolittle, written and illustrated by Hugh Lofting.

As part of the Agreement, Nelvana has also acquired the production publishing tie-in rights to animated television programming, which the Company will develop and produce from its adaptation of such book titles as The Story of Doctor Dolittle, The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle, Doctor Dolittle's Circus, Doctor Dolittle's Zoo and Doctor Dolittle's Caravan, among others.

Nelvana will also develop and produce original stories based on the classic character, who made his book debut in 1920. Written by world-renowned and Newbery Medal Award-winning author and illustrator Hugh Lofting, Doctor Dolittle follows the adventures of a fictional 19th Century medical doctor as he works and talks with the animals in the English town of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh.

Since The Story of Doctor Dolittle was first published 80 years ago, million of books have been sold worldwide. The book series, available in every major language, has spawned two major motion pictures, including the memorable Doctor Dolittle, starring Rex Harrison and Dolittle, starring Eddie Murphy. Michael Hirsh, Co-Chief Executive Officer of Nelvana, says:

"For two generations, Doctor Dolittle's larger-than-life persona has captured the imagination of millions of children. Today, a new generation of youngsters around the world will be introduced to the wonderful stories of this mythical character who talks with the animals. We believe this property is a promising addition to our classic and contemporary book-based portfolio, with great potential as an animated children's TV series and a merchandising brand."

Tuesday, June 20, 2000

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

Titan A.E. $9.4 Million ($3,430 per screen average)
5th at the Box Office (opening weekend)
Total to Date: $9.4 Million

Dinosaur $5.9 Million ($1,996 per screen average - 34% decrease)
7th at the Box Office (down from #4 last weekend)
Total to Date: $120.5 Million

Fantasia 2000 $2.9 Million ($2,217 per screen average)
11th at the Box Office (opening widescreen weekend)
Total to Date: $52.4 Million

The Tigger Movie $90,551 ($401 per screen average - 27% increase)
36th at the Box Office (down from number 33 last weekend)
Total to Date: $45.1 Million

The Road to El Dorado $79,013 ($646 per screen average - 46% decrease)
42nd at the Box Office (down from #29 last weekend)
Total to Date: $50.6 Million

Toy Story 2 $60,433 ($623 per screen average - 17% decrease)
49th at the Box Office (down from #43 last weekend)
Total to Date: $245.6 Million

Wednesday, June 21, 2000

Animators Put the “Go” in Stop Motion
According to the San Jose Mercury News:

“Why did the Chicken Run animator cross the road? To get to the other side. Then again, maybe it was to avoid the mind-numbing repetition, the excruciating attention to detail or the delirium-inducing tedium of taking nearly two years to get to the other side. That's how long it took to create 85 minutes of stop-motion animation for the film (and Aardman Animations managed that only by boosting its staff to 385, more than double its normal size). Chicken Run, which opens Wednesday, is the first feature-length effort from Aardman, British creators of the Oscar-winning ‘Wallace & Gromit’ shorts.

Stop-motion remains so endearingly low-tech that its ‘digital’ elements consist almost entirely of people's fingers. Using latex and silicone, the animators create regiments of cluckless, pluckless Plasticine poultry, then use their fingers to breathe life into the chickens.

Click here for the full story.

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Chicken Run Characters Promote Reading
Rocky and Ginger, the claymation stars from Aardman Studios' new film Chicken Run, are the latest movie tie ins to be featured in an ad from the Newspaper Association of America that promotes reading among young people.

The quarter-page black-and-white ad features Rocky and Ginger reading a newspaper, with the headline, "Encourage your children to read a newspaper every day. Don't be CHICKEN!" The body copy reads, "When you want to learn what is going on outside the fence, read a newspaper as soon as the sun comes up! Read everyday ... newspapers are eggsciting!" The ad closes with the familiar, "It all starts with newspapers" tagline.

Click here to view the ads in pdf format.

"We're excited at the opportunity to promote reading among young people in such a delightful and unique way," said NAA Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer John E. Kimball. "Featuring these characters in ads promoting newspaper reading is a great way to make the connection that reading not only is important, but can be fun and surprising as well."

Slated to open June 23, Chicken Run is the first full-length film from Aardman Studios, home of the award-winning Wallace and Gromit, which is known for its distinctive clay animation technique.

In December 1999, NAA featured the animated mouse Stuart Little in a similar ad that tied in with the opening of that hit film.

NAA launched the "It all starts with newspapers" campaign in September 1997, followed by flights that began in April and October 1998, and April 1999. In addition, an ad featuring Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway was included in a special print and broadcast release during and around the 1999 Super Bowl.

Della Femina/Jeary & Partners in New York City created the original ad campaign.

NAA is a nonprofit organization representing the $57 billion newspaper industry and more than 2,000 newspapers in the U.S. and Canada.

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New Animation Newsletter Tonight
A new edition of the Animation Artist Newsletter will be sent to subscribers tonight. Besides containing a “sneak peek” at a new section, tonight’s newsletter also tells readers how to win a signed copy of the book “Chicken Run: Hatching the Movie.” If you are not yet subscribed to the free newsletter, click here to subscribe.

Thursday, June 22, 2000

Aardman Looks to Future Feature Films
With Chicken Run now playing in select cities, Aardman Studios is now setting its sight on its next two claymation films. Aardman has already been working on its 2002 feature, The Tortoise and the Hare and will follow that up with a feature-length version of “Wallace & Gromit.”

In other Chicken Run news, the soundtrack for the movie has been released.

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Disney Destroyed Pooh Documents
A judge has ruled that Disney destroyed documents related to a lawsuit that Stephen Slesinger, Inc. filed against the company over royalties. The lawsuit has been in the court for years.

According to a 1999 article by The American Reporter, “At the heart of the underlying case is a 1983 license renewal agreement between Disney and literary agent Stephen Slesinger, the creator of the Red Ryder comics and movies. Slesinger acquired subsidiary rights to the Winnie the Pooh books from Milne in 1929, and licensed them to Disney in 1961. The agreement requires Disney to pay royalties on all but book sales of Winnie the Pooh characters to Slesinger and his heirs. Stephen Slesinger, Inc., brought the case in Los Angeles Superior Court in 1991.”

This week an LA judge found that Disney willfully destroyed documents related to the case in order to keep the documents from being presented in the trial. Disney will be required to pay monetary sanctions as a result of the findings.

According to a March 20, 2000 Forbes article, “While Disney and Pooh Properties declined to comment on any aspect of their royalty agreements, Thwaite [Milne’s biographer] figures the licensing rights that were sold to Disney in 1961 encompassed a renegotiation between the Milne estate and Slesinger. Five years later Disney released the animated short film Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree. The company has been working its magic on the Pooh franchise ever since. So much so that, according to the NPD Group, an agency that tracks licensed products, Pooh is now Disney's most popular character, eclipsing even Mickey Mouse in licensing income.”

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Chicken Run Chat Today
The producers and directors of Chicken Run, Nick Park and Peter Lord, will be conducting a live online chat today on Yahoo!. At 2:30PM EST (11:30AM PST) log onto http://chat.yahoo.com/ in order to access the event.

Friday, June 23, 2000

Animation Artist Opens Titan A.E. Movie Site
Animation Artist Magazine today opened its Titan A.E. movie site, covering the animated sci-fi adventure from Fox Animation Studios. To visit the Animation Artist Titan A.E. Movie Site, click here.

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Fantasia 2000 Headed Back to IMAX Screens
According to Variety:

“Disney's Fantasia 2000, which grossed a healthy $64 million worldwide during an exclusive four-month IMAX run earlier this year, will return to the giant screen in August.

Chuck Viane, president of Disney's Buena Vista distribution unit, said the re-release would go until the end of the year in all, or nearly all, of the 54 IMAX venues that have already played the updated animated classic. Exact dates for each venue have not been set.

‘It was always an open question where we would go back, but we had such a successful run at the theaters that it was an easy decision,’ Viane added...”

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Animation Artist Introduces Two Chicken Run Contests
To compliment the opening of Chicken Run in theaters today, Animation Artist Magazine is offering two new contests. For full details on these new contests, visit the Animation Artist Contests pages at http://www.animationartist.com/Contests/contests.html .

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“The Project” Enters Next Phase
As announced in Wednesday’s Animation Artist Newsletter, “The Project” by several Animation Artist readers has entered its next phased with a animatic being completed earlier this week. You can now view the 26-second animatic on our new “The Project” page at http://www.animationartist.com/theproject/ . Be warned that the animatic is 16mb large (QuickTime format).

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Chicken Run has Strong Showing!
Chicken Run opened on only six screens Wednesday in Los Angeles and New York. If the early openings are any indication, Chicken Run is in for a big haul. For its six screen opening, Chicken Run garnished a 17th place ranking at the Box Office with an impressive $7,888 per screen average. It opens throughout the nation today in 2,600 theaters (in contrast, Titan A.E. last weekend opened on 2,734 screens).

What would be considered a great opening for Chicken Run? Over $14 million would be considered a successful opening weekend. Click here to visit the Animation Artist Chicken Run Website.

Saturday, June 24, 2000

Pixar Technician Joins Pulse Entertainment
Pulse Entertainment announced today that Leo Hourvitz, a computer graphics and animation pioneer, has been appointed Vice President of Creative Content Technology. The announcement was made by Pulse Entertainment's President Mark Yahiro, to whom Hourvitz will report.

"Leo's extensive experience as an interactive entertainment engineer and artist will be of immense value as Pulse expands and amplifies the execution and implementation of streaming media on the Web," said Pulse Entertainment's CEO Fred Angelopoulos. "His innovative approach to driving our technology to its creative limits inspires 3D developers and animators alike."

Hourvitz will be responsible for driving Pulse Entertainment's initiatives to integrate its proprietary technology in the production of creative content for the Web, evangelizing the opportunities for 3D developers to enliven streaming rich media and 3D animation using Pulse's suite of products. Mr. Hourvitz will also oversee the validation of new technology, ensuring application functionality in real-life production environments, bringing to bear his vast experience and creative brilliance in computer graphics production.

"Pulse Entertainment's pioneering technology enables 3D content to stream on the Web like never before," explained Hourvitz. "I'm highly motivated by the possibilities Pulse offers 3D developers and animators in achieving their creative goals through the marriage of content and technology."

Hourvitz has a distinguished background in computer graphics production, research, and development. He joins Pulse Entertainment after six years with Pixar Animation Studios, where he worked on Pixar's award-winning films and interactive products. Hourvitz was Supervising Technical Director on Geri's Game, Pixar's Oscar(TM)-winning 1997 short film, Producer of the Toy Story Animated StoryBook CD-ROM, and a technical director on Pixar's film projects including A Bug's Life and Toy Story 2.

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Chicken Run CD Fun Pack Ships
In conjunction with the release of Aardman Studios feature film Chicken Run, Activision, Inc. will bring the fun of the movie home with the Chicken Run CD-ROM Fun Pack. The title began shipping yesterday and is available in retail outlets across North America. The Chicken Run Fun Pack has been rated "E" ("Everyone" -- content suitable for persons ages six and older) by the ESRB and carries a suggested retail price of $19.99.

The Chicken Run Fun Pack allows children and families to become immersed in the Chicken Run world. Providing high-resolution graphics and animation, addictive gameplay and fun-filled activities, the title brings home the film's hilarity and excitement to show that bravery comes in all forms, even feathered.

"The Chicken Run CD-ROM Fun Pack offers a unique opportunity for fans of the film to continue their Chicken Run experience on their PC's," states Michael Pole, executive vice president of worldwide studios, Activision, Inc. "Players can enjoy clips from the movie, play awesome mini-games and customize their computer screen with cool film images."

The story of Chicken Run follows the antics of a loveable group of chickens trying to escape from their mundane battery farm existence. The chickens, led by the rough and ready newcomer Rocky (voiced by Mel Gibson) hatch a cunning plan to escape from the clutches of the menacing Mrs. Tweedy (voiced by Miranda Richardson) and her dreaded pie-making machine.

The Chicken Run Fun Pack includes such mini-games as "Spring Chicken," which allows players to guide the farmyard rats, Nick and Fletcher, as they stage a daring escape attempt, and "Run Chicken Run," in which players fly the coop as they guide the fleeing chickens to freedom. Fans of the film will get caught up in the farm-fresh thrills all over again as they watch a series of fantastic clips from the movie.

Additionally, the Fun Pack allows PC users to transform their computer desktops with clever Chicken Run-themed screen savers, customized Windows(R) icons and more. The pack also allows fans to use quirky accessories like an animated desk clock, or to play their own CDs using "Rocky's Radio." The Chicken Run Fun Pack was developed for Activision by the UK-based Absolute Studios.

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Fox Film CEO Quits (will Fox Animation Die?)
William Mechanic, the CEO of Fox Film Studios unexpectedly quit on Thursday. Some analysts say it is a result of the poor performance of films like Anna and the King and Titan A.E.

According to Powerful Media, “...the pressure on Mechanic increased with the lackluster performance this year of Anna and the King and boiled over with the release of Titan, A.E., which opened last weekend to a disappointing $9.4 million. The film, which has been in the works for several years and is estimated to have cost at least $100 million to make, is expected to gross about $25 million domestically, and could kill Fox's feature animation endeavors for good.”

Sunday, June 25, 2000

Chicken Run has Strong Friday Opening
Chicken Run made $5.67 million on Friday to place second place (just behind Me, Myself, and Irene). The numbers guarantee that Chiken Run will make at least $16 million when the weekend is over and possibly close to $20 million. On Friday, Chicken Run averaged $2,277 per screen, playing on just 2,491 screens. The $5.67 million opening is the best ever for any DreamWorks distributed animated film.

Meanwhile, Titan A.E. only brought in $1 million, which is a greater than 60% drop from last Friday. Titan A.E. is averaging only $366 per screen (the lowest per screen average of the top 10 on Friday).

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BBC: “Chicken Run Sets U.S. Flapping”
According to the BBC News:

“Cinema box offices across the US are gearing up for an extra busy weekend with the much-anticipated opening of Chicken Run - the first feature-length movie from the makers of Wallace and Gromit.

Nick Park and Peter Lord are the brains and talent behind the award-winning British clay animation company Aardman.

After the huge global success of their three Wallace and Gromit shorts, Chicken Run has already won a string of rave reviews in the week leading up to its US release...Some Hollywood producers say the film should be given an American voiceover. However, Aardman has resisted...”

Click here to read the whole story.

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