New DVD Animated and Anime Titles Being Released Tomorrow
It is a slow release week for animated and anime DVD titles as only two are being released tomorrow. The list will pick up next week, however.

Here are the two Animated DVDs being released tomorrow:

The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle (mixed live action and animation)
Reboot Vol. 3 (1994)

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Tuesday, February 13, 2001

Box Office Results for Animated Films
Here are the Box Office results for animated films last weekend as The Emperor's New Groove nears the $80 million mark, a number that seemed unreachable to critics after the animated movie's poor opening weekend in mid-December:

The Emperor's New Groove
$1.3 Million ($1,220 per screen average - 33% decrease)
18th at the Box Office (up from #19 last weekend)
Total to Date: $83.5 Million

Cyberworld 3D
$147,713 ($4,103 per screen average - 5% decrease)
35th at the Box Office (up from #36 last week)
Total to Date: $5.7 Million

Rugrats in Paris
$110,259 Million ($525 per screen average - 33% decrease)
36th at the Box Office (down from #33 last weekend)
Total to Date: $75.2 Million

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Academy Award Nominations
The Academy Award nominations were announced earlier this morning. Here are the nominations for Best Animated Short Film and Best Visual Effects:

Best Animated Short Film
Father and Daughter
The Periwig-Maker
Rejected

Best Visual Effects
Gladiator
Hollow Man
The Perfect Storm

Noticeably missing from Best Animated Short was Pixar's For the Birds.

No animated movies received a nomination for Best Original Score (Dinosaur was surprisingly missing from this category), but Disney's The Emperor's New Groove did receive a Best Original Song nomination for "My Funny Friend and Me" by Sting and David Hartley.

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Wednesday, February 14, 2001

Square Releases Final Fantasy Budget Numbers
Square and Columbia Pictures state that it cost $137 million to make Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, which opens in theaters nationwide on July 13, 2001. The $137 million includes all costs associated with the production of the film. It does not include the cost for marketing the movie, which Columbia Pictures, the distributor for the film, will handle.

Square has experienced great success with its Final Fantasy series for Playstation, which have ranged from medieval fantasies to futuristic sci-fi adventures. For Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, Square decided to create a futuristic sci-fi fantasy. It has also been reported that Square has already begun work on another Final Fantasy movie that will also be a futuristic sci-fi adventure and possibly a sequel to Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is expected to receive a PG-13 rating from the MPAA.

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Shrek Toys to Invade Stores
Part of the mounting DreamWorks campaign for the animated Shrek includes invading toy stores with dozens of Shrek toys. This includes

-- A series of 6-inch fully articulated figures, which include Shrek, Dragon Battlin' Shrek, Donkey Fiona, Duloc Mascot and Lord Farquaad.

-- A series of 6-inch bean toys with sound (a McFarlane Toys first), including Shrek, Donkey, Fiona, Lord Farquaad and Gingerbread Man.

-- A series of 3-inch figures sold in multipacks of six figures each. The list includes all the major and many minor characters in the film, including Shrek, Fiona, Dragon, Donkey, Lord Farquaad, Knight and many more.

-- Duloc Dungeon Playset, complete with sound and play action.

-- A series of super-size figures (10 to 12 inches) of Shrek and Donkey, fully articulated and featuring voice chips with signature sound phrases.

-- Several diorama-style playsets, including Shrek's Swamp House, the Wrestling Ring and Deluxe Dragon.

Shrek is being released nationally on May 18, 2001.

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Thursday, February 15, 2001

Beauty and the Beast IMAX Details
On February 7, Animation Artist Magazine broke news that Disney was planning on rereleasing Beauty and the Beast to IMAX screens. Disney confirmed that news yesterday with an official announcement that appears below:

A "tale as old as time" will get introduced to a new generation of fans in a big way when Walt Disney Pictures releases its Academy Award-winning animated motion picture Beauty and the Beast in IMAX and other large-format venues around the world on March 8th, 2002, it was announced today (2/14) by Dick Cook, chairman of the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group.

Still the only animated film ever to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, the giant-screen release of Beauty and the Beast follows the record-breaking success last year of Disney's Fantasia/2000 - The IMAX Experience, which took in 2.8 million dollars in its first two days, more than $10 million in two weeks, and more than $64.4 million worldwide in only 75 theaters by the end of its limited four-month IMAX engagement.

To make Beauty and the Beast a must-see event, Walt Disney Feature Animation has spent a year in production on the film, enhancing the image and refining character faces, backgrounds, and special effects, in order to let the film shine brightly on the giant screen. In addition, the filmmakers have added an extraordinary, never-before-seen musical sequence, featuring the song "Human Again" by the Academy Award-winning team of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. Written for the original 1991 release, the song was storyboarded but never animated, until now. Featured in the hit Broadway musical Beauty and the Beast,"Human Again" is an upbeat, festive sequence in which the enchanted characters dream about what they'll do when they change back into their original forms. This marks the first time that Disney has ever animated a new sequence for a previously-released feature.

Commenting on the announcement, Cook said, "The success of Fantasia/2000 clearly indicates that Disney entertainment and giant-screen showmanship go together like Mickey and Minnie, and this is a relationship we want to continue. We think Beauty and the Beast is a perfect match for large-format theaters -- with critical acclaim, worldwide box office success, and a hit Broadway show to its credit, this remains one of the most popular Disney stories of all time."

Thomas Schumacher, President of Walt Disney Feature Animation, added, "At the time of its initial release, Beauty and the Beast represented a major milestone for our animators and for the genre as a whole. Now, with its giant screen debut, the addition of a great new musical sequence, and new improvements to the picture and sound quality, the film truly is bigger and better than ever. Directors Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale and producer Don Hahn have created a timeless piece of entertainment."

To support the giant screen release of Beauty and the Beast, Disney will be working with each theater to design an individual marketing campaign specific to that theater. Each theater will be assigned a Disney representative to assist it, as the Studio did successfully with Fantasia/2000. Furthermore, taking advantage of the unique educational opportunities offered by Beauty and the Beast, the Studio is creating two complete resource guides -- one complete program for elementary school students, and another for middle school students -- to assist teachers looking for real-world examples of their everyday assignments. The guides will include lesson plans in Language Arts and Reading, Social Studies, Science and New Technology, Art, Music and Dance, and Foreign Language.

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