May 8 - 14, 2000 News

Monday, May 8, 2000

Dinosaur Makes Cover of Newsweek!
Disney's new Dinosaur was born in a former aircraft plant against the better business judgment of CEO Michael Eisner. As the film was being developed, the producers told Eisner they didn't know how much it would cost nor how long it would take to build a new-generation digital studio, called the Secret Lab, and to produce the new 82-minute prehistoric epic. For Eisner it was a leap of faith.

"To business-school students, I would hasten to say that this is not the way you should be doing business," Eisner tells Newsweek in the current issue, where it is the cover story. "However, when it is the core of your company - the culture and the heritage which stands for the name Disney - the investment in equipment, space and talent must be made."

Disney is betting that the $200 million spent on "Dinosaur" and the new studio will make it as dominant in 3-D animation as it has always been in traditional, two-dimensional formats, report Senior Editor David Ansen and General Editor Yahlin Chang in the May 15 cover story "Dinosaur! Disney's $200 Million Gamble" (on newsstands now).

The studio, built from the skeleton of an old Lockheed aircraft plant, will be used for future films for the whole Walt Disney Co. Until now, only Disney partner Pixar, with its two Toy Story films and A Bug's Life, has been able to compete with Disney's traditional animation hits. Disney distributed these movies, but splits the take 50-50 with its northern California partners.

In the 82-minute Dinosaur, which was 12 years in the making, a young Iguanodon named Aladar is separated from his parents and raised, Tarzan style, by a family of friendly lemurs. Footage for the background was shot throughout the world for real settings to better emphasize the dinos size and "virtual" reality. But in this computer-manipulated film, nothing is as it seems - the sky may be from one part of the world, the mountains from another and the river that runs through it entirely generated by computer.

Daily Variety: "Dinosaur Lacks Muscle"
Breaking the unwritten code between reviewers and studios that film reviews not be published until opening day, Daily Variety has published a review of Dinosaur two weeks early.

In the review, Daily Variety says that the first few minutes of film, which was shown in the trailer playing before Toy Story 2, is "enough to thrill any viewer, as well as to serve notice that there's never been anything quite like this before."

The reviewer, Todd McCarthy, goes on to say, "The visual splendors continue, to be sure, across the pacy 75 minutes of story time (seven minutes of credits follow). But it's also the case that, somewhere around half-way through, you begin to get used to the film's pictorial wondrousness -- to take it for granted, even -- and start to realize that the characters and story are exceedingly mundane, unsurprising and pre-programmed."

The review calls the creatures "beautifully rendered," but "they don't engage the emotions any more directly than have many more cartoonishly rendered animated characters in the past."

Dinosaur is rated PG for intense images. For more information on Dinosaur, visit Animation Artist Magazine's Movie Site, www.dinosaurmovie.com, which is updated every day through May 31, 2000.

Tuesday, May 9, 2000

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

The Road to El Dorado
$907,993 ($594 per screen average - huge 62% drop)
14th at the Box Office (down from #13 last weekend)
Total to Date: $47.7 Million

Toy Story 2
$162,970 ($430 per screen average)
27th at the Box Office (down from #24 last weekend)
Total to Date: $244.5 Million

Fantasia 2000
No longer in IMAX theaters. Look for widescreen release June 16.
Final Total: $49.5 Million

Animation Companies Participate in Job Fair
Industrial Light and Magic, The Jim Henson Company, and Cinesite are three of a handful of animation companies that will be participating in the 3D Expo Job Fair today and tomorrow in Santa Clara, CA. It is part of the 3D Expo event now going on at the Santa Clara Convention Center.

Wednesday, May 10, 2000

Baseball Themed Animation Series in Production
MSH Entertainment announced that its partner company, Aston Entertainment, has co-developed and are producing "D'Myna Leagues," a baseball-themed children's animation series centering on the antics and adventures of a baseball team made up of myna birds. The initial order of 13 half-hour episodes is scheduled for delivery to broadcasters in August 2000. An additional 13 episodes has been ordered for delivery in early 2001.

Morning Sun Productions, one of the largest foreign-owned animation studios in China is contributing the outside work for the series not being provided by Studio B or Aston. Aston Entertainment is a Florida based state-of-the-art animation and post-production facility 35% owned by MSH.

Also associated with the venture is the creator of the project and co-producer, Canada-based animation company Studio B Productions and Vancouver broadcaster VTV.

MSH and Aston will share in North American distribution and worldwide merchandising revenues. In addition to providing a U.S. broadcaster, it is expected that the recent announced strategic alliance between MSH and Peter Pan Industries will result in a favorable domestic home video arrangement for the series.

NewTek Ships LightWave 6.0 for Mac
NewTek announced today that it is now shipping LightWave 6.0 for the Macintosh. LightWave 6.0 is the culmination of over ten years of development and, according to NewTek, represents the most significant upgrade to LightWave in the history of the product.

"LightWave 6 is set to push the envelope for 3D modeling, rendering and animation and contains many features never before seen on a Macintosh system," said Brad Peebler, Vice President of 3D Graphics Tools for NewTek. "With the new G4 processors, the Apple/LightWave 6 combination represents the fastest rendering solution to provide caustics, radiosity, ray tracing and volumetrics in one system. Combined with the new animation and modeling tools geared for high-end character animation work, LightWave 6 will be head-and-shoulders above any animation system currently available for the Macintosh."

Thursday, May 11, 2000

Toy Story 2 Wins Blockbuster Award
Toy Story 2 ran away with the "Best Family Film" honors this week at the Blockbuster Awards, which is determined by millions of Americans (last year, 15 million Americans voted for the Blockbuster Awards). The Sixth Annual Blockbuster Awards were conducted at The Shrine Auditorium.

Artist Colony for Seniors in the Works
What happens when you get older and want to continue that inspiration of drawing and animation? How about joining a new artists colony for seniors in Burbank, CA? According to the Los Angeles Daily News, "A housing plan seeking approval from Burbank officials is designed to tap the talents of older artists and give them an affordable place to live while indulging their artistic gifts.

If the project is approved, seniors living in La Dolce Vita Senior Artists Colony would have studios, a theater and other facilities to continue their work. They also would share their talents with kindergartners at a school next door...The project is expected to cost between $18 million and $20 million, including purchase of the property and relocation of businesses and residents already on the site..."

Click here for the full story.

Friday, May 12, 2000

Chicken Run Game, Based on Movie, Forthcoming
Eidos Interactive, one of the world's leading publishers and developers of entertainment software, today announced that it has secured worldwide rights to publish PlayStation(R) game console and PC versions of a game based on Chicken Run, the new animated feature film due out this summer. The announcement was made at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3Expo).

Chicken Run is a co-production from Aardman Animations, DreamWorks SKG and Pathe. The game is being licensed from, and developed by, game developer Blitz Games, and is scheduled for release later this year.

In keeping with the film's story, the game is set on a 1950s Yorkshire, England chicken farm and follows a group of lovable chickens as they try to break out of their confinement. Described as a homage to the classic World War II film epic "The Great Escape," the adventure-comedy's cast includes the voices of Mel Gibson, Julia Sawalha, Miranda Richardson, Imelda Staunton and Jane Horrocks. The film is being distributed by DreamWorks, the studio behind such films as Saving Private Ryan, Antz and American Beauty, the 1999 Academy Award Winner for Best Picture.

Aardman Animations was founded in 1972 by David Sproxton and Peter Lord and has created such characters as Morph, Creature Comforts and Wallace and Gromit. Aardman has received Oscar(R) nominations in the animated short film category for seven different films and has won three times for "Creature Comforts," "The Wrong Trousers" and "A Close Shave."

"We are delighted to have secured the publishing rights to this game," said Mike McGarvey, COO of Eidos. "'Chicken Run' is tipped to be one of the biggest films this year, and we are confident that the game will be successful."

Blitz Games, formerly Interactive Studios, is an independent games development company established by two brothers, known as the Oliver twins, who started writing games in 1981 and have developed more than 100 titles.

"With such a strong license it was important to choose a publisher that will maximize the marketing and distribution potential of the game to the widest possible audience," said Philip Oliver, managing director of Blitz Games. "We are confident we have found that in Eidos."

"We are excited to see our characters developed for electronic game platforms, and see it as another step forward for Aardman Animations and Blitz Games, as well," added Nick Park and Peter Lord, co-directors of Chicken Run.

Saturday, May 13, 2000

Scott Johnston Keynotes User Group Conference
Scott Johnston was the main keynote speaker at the Teradyne Users Group (TUG) meeting that took place May 8-10 at the San Diego Sheraton Harbor Hotel. Johnston demonstrated the magic involved in merging computer graphic tools, developed for live action photorealistic filmmaking, and the adaptation for traditional animation. The users group is comprised of engineers who play key roles implementing advances in semiconductor, software test, circuit board and systems technology.

Scott F. Johnston's successful career in digital animation began in 1989 when he joined Walt Disney Feature Animation during the production of The Little Mermaid. He also worked on the Prince and the Pauper as well as The Rescuers Down Under, contributed several effects to the celebrated Aladdin, and was a principal designer of the ballroom sequence in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. As Computer Generated Imagery Supervisor for the Lion King Johnston oversaw the development and production of all the 3D computer-generated effects in that memorable film, including the climactic wildebeest stampede that takes the life of young Simba's father.

In 1997, Johnston founded Fleeting Image Animation, Inc., where he currently develops and produces animation that integrates traditional and computer generated techniques.

"Most computer graphic tools are developed for live action photorealistic filmmaking and need to be adapted for use in traditional animation," Johnston explains.

During his keynote address, "Making the Magic Seamless" Johnston used examples including The Iron Giant on which he recently completed his work as Artistic Coordinator for Warner Bros., to illustrate some of the magic involved in merging the two animation techniques.

"Designing animation for films is a fascinating business and the semiconductor industry contributes to the success of this enterprise," said Larry Pickett, chairman of the TUG 2000 Steering Committee. "As the computer generated effects become more photorealistic, the requirement for better graphics and faster generation tools increases the need for advanced semiconductors. It is inspiring to see the results of our work in the semiconductor industry playing a role in entertaining our children and grandchildren."

Click here to read an interview with Scott Johnston

Sunday, May 14, 2000

ABC To Air Mulan Tonight
Tonight, Disney-owned ABC will present the Network premiere of its animated Mulan. The movie was originally released in theaters in 1998 and is directed by Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook.

General Mills Executes Dinosaur Promotion Deal
General Mills will go back in time to celebrate a brand new movie. Seven of the company's cereals have tied-in with Dinosaur, Walt Disney Pictures' epic new feature that seamlessly blends digitally enhanced live-action photography, special-effects wizardry, and computer-generated characters. Just in time for the May 19 release of Dinosaur , 20 million cereal boxes will be distributed nationwide with related on-pack activities, premiums and offers.

The large size boxes of five popular Big G cereal brands each feature collectible "Chomping Magnets" featuring characters from Dinosaur. With a window on the box showcasing each premium, General Mills' Visible Value technology - launched last fall with Toy Story 2 premiums - allows kids to see the actual magnet they'll receive with their cereal. Five separate "Chomping Magnets," designed to look like the movie's characters, are available in 20 oz. boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios, Frosted Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Lucky Charms, and 19.5 oz. boxes of Cocoa Puffs.

In addition, small size boxes of those brands, plus Cookie Crisp and Cinnamon Grahams, feature a mail-in offer for a Disney Audio Plush CD Case. Shaped like the head of a dinosaur, it can hold up to 10 CDs. It is available for $4.99 plus one UPC.

Big G's tie-in with Walt Disney Pictures' Dinosaur is supported by a national advertising campaign including a national FSI, a :30 commercial for Honey Nut Cheerios and another for Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

Walt Disney Pictures' exciting new live-action/computer animated visual effects spectacle, Dinosaur, follows the adventures of an Iguanodon named Aladar as he embarks on a perilous journey with a family of Lemurs and a herd of migrating dinosaurs to find the safety of their nesting ground following a devastating meteor shower. Set 65 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period, the film presents a photorealistic world of wonders filled with a wide variety of prehistoric creatures and a powerful and entertaining story of survival and adaptability. Dinosaur opens in theatres nationwide on May 19.

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