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Author Topic:   Animation
HollywoodProducer
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posted March 03, 2005 11:13 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for HollywoodProducer   Click Here to Email HollywoodProducer     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
'Bambi' Stampedes Into Video Stores

Disney may have concluded that hand-drawn animation is a relic of the past and shut down its domestic hand-drawn operations, but the relic proved to be mighty potent on Tuesday as its DVD re-release of Bambi sold one million copies in its first day on the shelves. According to Buena Vista Home Entertainment, the 1942 classic has been released on home video in VHS twice before, in September 1989 and February 1997. The remastered version released this week marks the first time the feature has been available on DVD. In a statement, Disney said that the restoration effort required "detailed frame-by-frame work on over 110,000 frames, requiring more than 9,600 hours of work." Priced at $24.99, the Bambi Special Edition is a 2-disc set that includes footage of story meetings with Walt Disney, deleted sequences, "The Making of Bambi" and numerous games.

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NEWSFLASH
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posted March 09, 2005 10:57 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for NEWSFLASH   Click Here to Email NEWSFLASH     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Bambi Revealed! He's An Ex-marine!

After more than 60 years, Donald Roan Dunagan has revealed that he was the facial model and the voice of Walt Disney's Bambi. Dunagan, who was seven years old when he was hired by Disney -- and who agreed to appear in the "extras" package of the current DVD "Platinum Edition" of Bambi -- has told the Florence, AL Times Daily that he kept his role secret in order to maintain his image as a career officer in the U.S Marine Corps. "I would not have made it [in the military] ... with the nickname Bambi. I would have been history. I told myself back then, 'Dunagan, that's long ago. Nobody knows. Nobody needs to know Nobody probably even cares -- so just keep it to yourself.'" Dunagan also told the newspaper that he became an accomplished shooter during his military career. "I was often invited to go on hunting trips in Montana or the Dakotas," he says. "Most often it was deer -- and I couldn't do it. I just couldn't do it. I've done a lot of shooting, but I've never shot an animal -- not one."

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NEWSFLASH
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posted March 31, 2005 12:51 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for NEWSFLASH   Click Here to Email NEWSFLASH     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
'Madagascar': The Activity Disc


In an unusual promotion, DreamWorks will include a "Madagascar Activity Disc" and a ticket to see the new animated feature in its packaging for the Shrek 2 DVD beginning May 17. Madagascar, which features the voices of Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett-Smith and David Schwimmer, is scheduled to be released on May 27. Meanwhile, DreamWorks Animation chief Jeffrey Katzenberg showed about 15 minutes of clips from Madagascar at a Banc of America Securities conference in New York on Wednesday. Daily Variety reported that a table occupied by executives of rival Pixar Animation "rolled with genuine laughter" at the clips.

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fred
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posted May 04, 2005 11:51 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for fred   Click Here to Email fred     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Japan looks to make animation business-savvy Wed May 4, 1:29 PM ET

Boasting some of the world's most respected leading animators such as Oscar-winner Hayao Miyazaki, Japan is looking at whether formal training will enable animation to become a mass-market export industry.

Japanese universities have begun to establish schools aiming to tie up animators' creative talents with some solid grounding in business, teaching them how to finance and market their work.

But the question remains how successful it will be to treat animation as another Japanese industry like selling hard drives or motorcycles, as animation has thrived -- artistically, at least -- leaving artists to their own devices.

Last fall, the graduate school of Tokyo University established a department of digital contents creation where star animators can share both their creative and business know-how with students.

Among the instructors is Mamoru Oshii, famous for the 1995 animation "Ghost in the Shell", a science-fiction film in which a government uses cyborgs as undercover agents.

Also on the faculty is Toshio Suzuki, executive of Studio Ghibli, the production company of Hayao Miyazaki, the Oscar winner whose latest fantasy "Howl's Moving Castle" broke box office records in Japan.

Elsewhere in the city, the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in April began a film production department where students can learn from the likes of "Beat" Takeshi Kitano, the self-taught actor-director whose often violent films have proven more successful abroad than at home.

The school plans to set up an animation film department in 2007.

Private corporations have also started to set up their own schools in a bid to boost the quality of young animators joining the ranks.

"Animation is an important asset both for children and adults around the world. But there are not many people in Japan who can manage it from the point of creation to business management," says Mitsuteru Takahashi, who is leading a team at Wao Corporation that is setting up a digital animation graduate school set to open next year.

Japan's total "contents" business in animation, film, publishing and music was worth 14.7 trillion yen (140 billion dollars) in 2003, with animation including manga cartoons, films, videos and character products ringing up 2.7 trillion yen (26 billion dollars), according to the Digital Content Association of Japan.

That is nowhere near the 50 trillion yen (474 billion dollars) in the US market, which accounted for 40 percent of the world total, according to the same association.

While Japanese animation is winning greater markets abroad, it could also soon see tougher competition from other Asian nations such as South Korea and China where many Japanese animation companies turn to for labor in making films.

China's culture ministry last year started a university program that aims to boost China's animation industry, including through tie-ups in Japan.

With Miyazaki, the king of Japanese animation, 64 years old and repeatedly saying he wants to retire, it remains open to debate whether formal training can produce a new crop of animators for an industry based on individual creativity.

"Schools have started. But the issue is whether those who graduated from the schools can translate their knowledge and skills into creative industries," says Yoshiharu Shimamoto, senior researcher at the Digital Content Association of Japan.

But others argue that as Japanese animation grows overseas, young artists will increasingly be drawn to countries such as the United States with more developed business prospects unless something changes at home.

"The US has Hollywood where people with degrees such as in film or broadcasting can make success stories. Japan needs to establish a business environment where people educated at the schools can be successful, otherwise they will go overseas," says Atsuko Nomura, senior researcher at the Japan Research Institute, a well-known think tank.

Nomura says that lesser known animators faced inevitable problems in financing.

Small to middle-sized production companies depend on television stations, film distributors or advertising agencies to make their TV programs or films. And if a work is a hit, much of the profits go to those very middle agents instead of the production companies.

"A business model has to be found where people can set up a working environment with a financing system that is at an equal level. Also distribution should not be limited to Japan but extend overseas," Nomura says.

The schools may be taking a step in that direction.

When the Tokyo metropolitan government this spring held its annual international animation fair this spring, some 84,000 people turned up including businesspeople and the general public. The number of people there for business has tripled since the fair was established in 2002.

"Many participants told me that now they knew how to talk about business matters with visitors," says Yuji Kikuta, chief producer of the fair.

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NEWSFLASH
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posted May 11, 2005 09:04 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for NEWSFLASH   Click Here to Email NEWSFLASH     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
DreamWorks Net Is Pinched As Shrek 2 DVD sales Fall Short

In a rare misfire for the computer-animation genre, DreamWorks Animation SKG fell far short of estimates for its first-quarter net profit after DVD sales of "Shrek 2" failed to reach the lofty targets the studio set. DreamWorks Animation said that DVD and video sales of "Shrek 2" failed to meet the studio's targets during the quarter and resulted in a higher level of returns than anticipated. "We expected the rate of sales to maintain its blistering pace into first quarter, and it didn't," said DreamWorks Animation Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg in an interview. The Glendale, Calif., animation studio reported net income of $46 million, or 44 cents a share, on revenue of $167 million. While that compares favorably to a year-earlier net loss of $25 million, or 33 cents a share, the earnings fell below analysts forecasts of a net profit of 58 cents a share, according to Thomson First Call. "Shrek" has been a star performer in the world of computer-animated movies. The second picture in the series racked up huge ticket sales and plans for several more sequels are in the works. As a result of the first-quarter shortfall, Mr. Katzenberg said the studio hadn't recorded any revenue from "Shrek 2," other than licensing and merchandising, but he still expects the movie to be one of the most successful DVD sellers in history. The studio, which went public last year, said "Shrek 2" had sold around 35 million DVD and video units world-wide by the end of the first quarter, instead of its previously forecast 40 million units. Mr. Katzenberg said the movie was now expected to reach between 38 million and 40 million units by the end of this year. DVD and video sales of the studio's more modest hit, "Shark Tale," however, met the company's forecast of around 12 million units world-wide by the end of the first quarter. In 4 p.m. New York Stock Exchange composite trading, DreamWorks Animation shares were down $2, or 5.2%, to $36.56. After topping $41 last month -- a considerable climb from the $28 offer price last year -- the shares have pulled back in recent weeks. DreamWorks Animation said it now expected to report full-year earnings per share of between $1 and $1.25, most of which would come in the fourth quarter. The company had not previously given full-year guidance. The studio said its focus would now shift to "Madagascar," its animated tale of a group of shipwrecked zoo animals that makes its theater debut on May 27. "We remain optimistic about 'Madagascar,' " Mr. Katzenberg said, adding that the response to the movie in test screenings continues to be "excellent." DreamWorks' animation studio has committed to releasing two animated movies in theaters each year. Its second release this year will be "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit," in partnership with Aardman Animations of Britain, the creators of "Chicken Run." The Wallace & Gromit picture is due to hit theaters in October. The animation studio announced a $575 million secondary offering at the end of March so that three major shareholders could cash in part of their holdings.

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posted June 28, 2005 10:50 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for NEWSFLASH   Click Here to Email NEWSFLASH     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Disney to Convert 'Chicken Little' Into 3-D

Disney, hoping to show that it doesn't need Pixar in order to turn out a hit digitally animated movie, said Monday that it will convert its upcoming Chicken Little into 3-D and use digital projectors to show it on 100 screens when the movie opens on Nov. 4. Disney is partnered with Lucasfilm's Industrial Light and Magic, which will convert the movie into 3-D; Dolby Digital Cinema, which will install the digital projectors; and Real D., which will install the screens and the 3-D projection lenses.

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indiedan
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posted July 11, 2005 02:21 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for indiedan   Click Here to Email indiedan     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Sandy Brown
Dark Days at DreamWorks
By Sandy Brown
TheStreet.com Staff Reporter

URL: http://www.thestreet.com/stocks/sandybrown/10231764.html


Wall Street is starting to see some rather large chinks in the armor of its favorite animation studios.

Weak DVD sales humbled Dreamworks Animation (DWA:NYSE) for the second time in as many months Monday. The smashup came just two short weeks after rival Pixar (PIXR:Nasdaq) suffered its own bottom-line bruising. Shares in both companies have been hit hard.

Even so, Wall Street continues to dance around the question of just why DVD sales have suddenly faltered. While all agree that the studios and their distributors must lighten up on movie-bloated retailers, it seems that no one can say just why consumers are less eager to buy movies on DVD.

Some people see pure market math at work. As more and more people buy DVDs, there are fewer die-hard consumers. "The new people on board are not as avid" buyers as the first-to-market users were, says Larry Haverty of Gabelli Asset Management. He adds that "consumer preference to buy DVDs seems to have peaked."

Asked on a call Monday, Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg claimed there was too little data to come to any conclusion on why DVD sales had suddenly weakened. He noted that with only two titles in the marketplace, Shrek 2 and Shark Tale, Dreamworks just hasn't seen enough consumer behavior. "There's too little data over too short a period of time to make an assessment of it," he said.

Katzenberg emphasized that the shortfall was not a Shrek 2 issue. Instead, he intoned, "this is a market issue." Pixar chief Steve Jobs was equally mealy-mouthed about The Incredibles' problems last month.

There are indeed a variety of factors contributing to the DVD problem. For one, Pixar and Dreamworks only put out one or two movies a year, so any problems hit their earnings much more than at an outfit like Time Warner (TWX:NYSE) .

For another, the companies' distributors -- Disney (DIS:NYSE) for Pixar and Universal for Dreamworks -- have customarily flooded the retail channel with DVDs. That practice will presumably come to an end in the wake of problems with The Incredibles and Shrek 2.

That said, it's hard to ignore the experience of the music industry, which saw sales plunge as Internet file-sharing emerged. Asked if issues such as piracy factored in, Katzenberg did not comment, saying that the issues surrounding DVDs were complex.

It seems that any time piracy comes up, one of the studio chiefs responds by saying that it is complex. They don't comment for fear, it seems, of being tarred by the same brush as the music industry has been. As with any theft, there is more desirability for a premium item than there is for a dud. Car thiefs, one might surmise, would rather get their hands on a Porsche than a Pinto.

With so much bad product coming out of Hollywood, it would make sense that piracy would eat into the sales of popular DVDs.

Granted, movies take a lot longer to download online, but if anyone believes that online feature film piracy is not on the rise -- or that you can't find a copy of Revenge of the Sith in Outer Mongolia the day of its theatrical release -- they are living in a fantasy world that even Dreamworks and Pixar couldn't conjure.

According to Eric Garland, CEO of BigChampagne, which tracks online use, the major problem is not that individuals are sharing movies like they have music from person to person -- it's that physical piracy is being driven by Internet-based distributors.

"The Internet is supercharging the distribution of pirated files from the source," says Garland. In other words, a copy of the latest hit comes out from someone who has "touched" the film, either through a screening or in postproduction. In either case, the movie is downloaded by an illegal distributor in a far-flung land and then 100,000 copies are made and put out on the street for $5 apiece. The movie hits the streets in huge numbers just as it is being released on theater screens.

A major dilemma for the studios has surfaced in terms of how to limit piracy. One thought has been to try narrow release windows, but it's hard to keep people in theaters when they know they can buy the DVD eight weeks later -- or get a grainy pirated version the same week.

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indiedan
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posted July 21, 2005 10:07 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for indiedan   Click Here to Email indiedan     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Nike Founder Makes Run at Feature Cartoons

Nike founder Phil Knight has changed the name of the commercial animation company he now controls -- it's best known for its California Raisins ads -- and plans to produce a feature-length animated film, USA Today reports. Knight's company, now called Laika, is moving ahead with a $70 million feature, Coraline, that will combine computer and stop-motion animation and could be in theaters by 2007, the newspaper said. He faces formidable competition from DreamWorks Animation, Pixar, Blue Sky and the major studios, which all have computer-animated features in the works. But interim CEO Bob Harold told USA Today: "When Nike was small, Phil didn't want to be Adidas. He wanted to beat Adidas. He knows who the competition is."

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NEWSFLASH SUMMER INTERN
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posted July 26, 2005 12:02 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for NEWSFLASH SUMMER INTERN   Click Here to Email NEWSFLASH SUMMER INTERN     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Another Hand-Drawn Animation Studio Bites the Dust

Citing a "changing creative climate and economic environment," the Walt Disney Co. announced today (Tuesday) that it will shut down DisneyToon Studios Australia in Sydney next year. The animation studio is one of the few still churning out hand-drawn animated features -- mostly for television and DVD. It was expected that the studio will shift outsourcing for its hand-drawn projects to Asian companies with which it is already doing business, including Cuckoos Nest Studio in Taipei, Studio Fuga in Tokyo and Toon City Animation in Manila. Disney reportedly expects savings in the neighborhood of $40-50 million a year.

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fred
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posted August 10, 2005 02:05 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for fred   Click Here to Email fred     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Sandy Brown
Restless Days at DreamWorks
By Sandy Brown
TheStreet.com Staff Reporter

URL: http://www.thestreet.com/stocks/sandybrown/10237500.html


DreamWorks Animation (DWA:NYSE) will get another chance Thursday to show it is on the way to righting its ship.

The company has sailed far off course in recent months with a pair of earnings debacles and a scuttled secondary offering, along with the perception that Madagascar was long on hype and short on box office delivery. Where investors have been willing to cut Pixar's (PIXR:Nasdaq) Steve Jobs a break on poor home-video sales of The Incredibles, the Street has ruthlessly hammered Jeffrey Katzenberg & Co.

Given DreamWorks' sour turn since October's IPO -- the stock has lost more than 40% off its spring highs -- there seems to be little chance that the overhanging issues will dissolve overnight or that this week's earnings will yield some heavenly surprise.

Even so, consider the possibility that DreamWorks Animation has hit rock bottom and things might start to look up from here. A good start would see the company hit numbers this week. This time around, analysts are looking for a loss no greater than 7 cents per share on revenue of $28 million or so.

Advance buzz on its coming projects is solid. This fall's Wallace & Gromit film has the potential to be a sleeper hit. Both Flushed Away and Over the Hedge (based on the syndicated cartoon) are said to be strong. And a revitalized Madagascar could get the ball rolling.

The film's opening domestically was soft by some analyst estimates, but by the same token the movie does rank 63rd on the all-time scoreboard. According to Box Office Mojo, the film has done $427 million in sales globally. For the record, that puts Madagascar just $57 million behind the original Shrek, with significant markets still to be exploited, such as Italy and Japan.

None of which will make a huge difference to the bottom line when the company reports Thursday afternoon, but it could bode well for franchising -- which is exactly what this film's strong point was expected to be. The first DVD isn't in stores yet and plans, according to insiders, are already afoot for a sequel.

Those listening to Thursday afternoon's call will want to know how DreamWorks will respond to the dramatic shift in home-video sales trends. The company was the first studio to be crushed by viewers' declining appetite for DVDs, but as investors in Pixar and Disney (DIS:NYSE) know by now, it will not be the last.

While DVD sales still account for the lion's share of revenue on any given film, investors will want to see how DreamWorks and its rivals recoup lost sales in the home-video channel. DreamWorks has been Hollywood's crash test dummy on the issue, but any sign the company is shaking off the passive approach will be well taken.

Of course, DreamWorks has other irons in the fire. Word a couple of weeks ago that General Electric's (GE:NYSE) NBC Universal was in discussions to buy the other piece of the DreamWorks pie, the live action side, couldn't be a better development for both DWA holders and the original studio itself.

Those who claim that the decade-old DreamWorks studio has failed neglect some high points. Yes, the television division failed to take off, and no, the music label didn't fly, but DreamWorks still has seven of the top 100 grossing movies of all time. It has made a concerted effort to produce quality fare in a Hollywood that consistently scrapes the bottom of the barrel.

Otherwise, consider that of the lead players, Katzenberg is a producer first and foremost, Spielberg is a director, and David Geffen's a lyrical man unmoved by movie studio economics. Putting this company under the GE/NBC Universal umbrella would streamline and solidify the distribution needs on both sides of the animation and live entertainment coin, which both already deal with Universal. There are worse bosses in the world, after all, than Bob Wright and Ron Meyer.

If in the process someone could figure out a way to get Paul Allen his money back and out of the mix, it's a safe bet that everyone from Wall Street to Flower Street would be a whole lot happier. In the meantime, only pleasant surprises will be welcome on Thursday.

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NEWSFLASH
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posted August 26, 2005 03:56 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for NEWSFLASH   Click Here to Email NEWSFLASH     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Japanese Comics Invade; Can They Conquer?

Friday, August 26, 2005

By Daniel Altiere

FoxNews

It's invaded the comic book world and children's entertainment. But can manga make it at the movies?

Simply, manga (search) (rhymes with "bang-a") is Japanese for "comics." Dishpan-sized eyes, samurai-like movements and girls in microscopic miniskirts are a few of its tell-tale elements.

Technically, you can bring a Superman comic to Japan, and it will be referred to as "manga." But nobody's bringing Superman comics to Japan. And everybody's bringing manga to America.

"Manga is one of the fastest-growing segments of the [American] publishing industry," said Milton Griepp, founder of ICv2 (search), a research organization that deals with the animation industry.

According to ICv2, manga sales in the United States jumped from $55 million in 2002 to a monstrous $125 million last year.

Still not sure what it is? The children's TV cartoons "Yu-Gi-Oh!" and "Pokemon" are both anime (search), the animated version of manga (same dishpan-eyed characters, same storylines involving the battle against evil, same magic and spirituality).

Non-Japanese kids' cartoons, such as the American "Teen Titans" and the French "Totally Spies!," are heavily influenced by anime, while Nickelodeon's hit series "Avatar" is pure anime, only completely written and voiced by Americans.

The Cartoon Network even devotes a block of cartoons, "Toonami," to the genre.

But at movie theaters, anime hasn't done so well — and naysayers say it never will.

"I think it's such a cultural thing that it won't work in the U.S.," said Jonathan Hung, a Hollywood "lit" manager who represents some of the industry's top screenwriting talent.

But a look at manga's history might prove otherwise.

Though its true origins can be traced to 12th century Japan, manga's life officially began in the early 19th century, when famous landscape artist Hokusai (search) — who, along with others, produced colored, wood-block paintings very similar to comics — published some sketches in a collection entitled "Hokusai Manga."

When Eastern folklore met Western art forms after World War II, true manga was born (as were those dishpan eyes — a direct effect of the Western comic influence.)

In the United States, manga took root in the 1970s, when VIZ Media started translating and releasing popular Japanese comic books. Today, VIZ is still the leading publisher of manga for English-speakers, serving an estimated audience of nearly 15 million fans.

Manga has become so dominant in the comic-book world that DC Comics (search) recently started an entire division dedicated to it. "CMX: Pure Manga" (search) feeds English-speaking fans more than a dozen manga titles.

Yu-Gi-Oh!

The tale of "Yu-Gi-Oh!" (search) is a story that perfectly illustrates the power of the monster that is manga.

"Yu-Gi-Oh!" (for which VIZ Media is a licensee) started out innocently enough as a Japanese comic in 1996. Then an animated version hit American Saturday-morning television in 2001, and within six months it shot to No. 1.

Like a monsoon, it flooded toy stores in three forms at once: video games, action figures and trading card games.

4Kids Entertainment, an American firm that specializes in picking out Japanese fads and marketing them here, has brought in more than $98 million in revenue since it brought "Yu-Gi-Oh!" to the states.

The only leg of the Yu-Gi-Oh! monster that's proven lame so far is film.

Last year's "Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Movie" grossed a paltry $28 million and proved to be a huge misfire for fans and critics alike. That failure of something related to so powerful a franchise begs the question: Has manga met its match in the movies?

Manga and the Movies

Comics were just the larval stage of manga's life. After living inanimate on the page, manga started to move. "Anime," they called it (an abbreviation of Japanese 'animeshon,' from English 'animation').

In the United States, it started somewhat underground with "Akira," which was first a manga comic and then a 1988 anime movie by Katsuhiro Otomo.

But so far, manga has not been able to make that leap to the movies in the United States.

Before starting Hung Entertainment Group, Hollywood "lit" manager Hung worked with Chris Lee (search), producer of 2001's "Final Fantasy: the Spirits Within," a computer-animated, manga-influenced American-Japanese co-production that was based on a series of video games.

The feature film turned out to be a huge miss for Sony, grossing about $35 million on a $150 million investment.

But according to Hung, there were more than just cultural factors that felled the "Final Fantasy" franchise.

"I think it was twofold: Basically, when you CGI [computer-generated imagery] humans, it just looks funny," he explained. "Second thing was the script — it was a very cultural thing, so they had to include things from the game that didn't really work. It was a very spiritual story, and American kids just want shoot 'em up — they don't want to know about Mother Earth.

"Thirdly," he added, "it was just a bad movie."

According to Hung, even 2-D animators have a hard time making manga work.

"They tried to use manga styles in [Disney's] 'Treasure Planet' and it didn't work," explained Hung, referring to the cartoon characters' large eyes and the art's bold contrasts. "They tried it with [Dreamworks'] 'Sinbad' (search), and that didn't work."

"The only way manga is going to make it here," said Hung, "is when they make it live action."

Live action meaning the old-fashioned way of making movies, with actual actors. Movies such as the "Spider-Man" and "Lord of the Rings" series — in fact, pretty much all action/adventure movies these days — are CGI mixed with live action.

Hayao Miyazaki's 2001 anime masterpiece "Spirited Away" (search) grossed more than $250 million in Japan, but even though it made many American movie critics' best-of-year lists, it barely limped to the $10 million mark at the U.S. box office.

Another Miyazaki movie, "Howl's Moving Castle," made less than $5 million in America in 2005.

Perhaps taking a lesson from those American misfires, studios have started buying up rights to huge manga titles such as "Akira" and developing them for live-action blockbusters.

But even with that, they're having a tough time.

"'Akira' is at Warner [Brothers]," sighs Hung, "somewhere in development hell."

For a short time, Hung also represented Canadian manga comic-book company Dreamwave, which offered Japanese-style comics with American storylines.

Hasbro gave Dreamwave the licensing rights to create yet another comic for "Transformers," Japanese toy-maker Takara's phenomenally successful line of mutating toy robots that spawned a TV show, a comic book and a movie in the mid-1980s.

And here's where we come full circle.

Slated for 2007, Dreamworks' as-yet-untitled "Transformers" movie (search) will be the closest thing we'll see to a major mainstream attempt at bringing manga to the big screen.

Though it didn't follow the traditional manga path (comic-anime-movie), producer Don Murphy makes the link.

"Just the whole idea of giant robots is a very manga-type thing," he said.

The "Transformers" movie will be an interesting test of whether the current hunger for manga — combined with the box office's lust for superheroes — can go one step further. If giant robots can't conquer American audiences, then, what can?

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posted August 30, 2005 01:27 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for NEWSFLASH   Click Here to Email NEWSFLASH     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Japanese Anime Films Flooding Into Video Stores

Films using the Japanese hand-drawn "anime" technique now account for nearly 7 percent of all DVDs on the shelves, according to Wired magazine. During this year alone, it reported, 473 anime DVDs were released, leading John Ledford, president of ADV Films, to remark: "Things have never been better for anime fans in America. ... No matter what channel you look at -- retail, broadcast or theatrical -- more anime is available in more outlets than ever before." At the same time, the magazine observed, prices for anime DVDs are escalating. Chris Tibbey of DVD Release Report told Wired,"License holders are asking for way too much money for magical-girl type shows that only the hard-core fan base cares about."

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indiedan
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posted September 14, 2005 02:01 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for indiedan   Click Here to Email indiedan     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Burton's 'Corpse Bride' Expecting a Lucrative Honeymoon

Reporters and critics attending the Toronto International Film Festival are predicting that Tim Burton will have his second big hit in two months (the other was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) with the animated Corpse Bride, which opens domestically on Sept. 23. The film uses stop-motion animation, which today's (Wednesday) San Jose Mercury News described as "probably the most labor-intensive form of filmmaking ever invented." However, Burton suggested that if the film turns out to be a hit, other films using the process will follow. He told the newspaper: "In Hollywood, they think drawn animation doesn't work anymore, computers are the way. They forget that the reason computers are the way is that Pixar makes good movies. So everybody tries to copy Pixar. They're relying too much on the technology and not enough on the artists. The fact that Disney closed down its cel animation division is frightening to me. Someday soon, somebody will come along and do a drawn-animated film, and it'll be beautiful and connect with people, and they'll all go, 'Oh, we've got to do that!' It's ridiculous."

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indiedan
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posted October 06, 2005 01:32 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for indiedan   Click Here to Email indiedan     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
'Wallace & Gromit': No Curse for DreamWorks

Industry buzz on DreamWorks Animation's release of Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit has been so intense that Banc of America Securities on Wednesday reiterated a "buy" rating on the studio and raised its target price to $29. Shares in the stock were being traded at $26.91 at midday on the NYSE. The research firm predicted an opening of $14-16 million over the weekend (it opened in limited release in Los Angeles and New York on Wednesday) and $65 million over the length of its domestic run. It predicted the film will take in a "meaningfully better" $110 million overseas. The "claymation" film has been attracting outstanding early reviews, Los Angeles Times critic Kenneth Turan, noting that it took five years to make the film using stop-motion photography, commented: "That's a lot of work for an 85-minute film, but if you want to know the truth, it was worth every second."

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fred
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posted October 10, 2005 11:51 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for fred   Click Here to Email fred     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
'Wallace and Gromit' Props Ruined in Fire


A day of celebration has turned to ashes for Aardman Animations, the English studio that created animated clay movie stars Wallace and Gromit.

Aardman said an early morning fire on Monday gutted its warehouse in this western English city, destroying a priceless archive of props, sets and models.

Aardman had just learned that "The Curse of the Were-Rabbit," the first full-length adventure for the eccentric inventor and his indomitable dog, had topped the U.S. box office on its opening weekend.

"Today was supposed to be a day of celebration, with the news that Wallace and Gromit had gone in at number one at the U.S. box office, but instead our whole history has been wiped out," said Aardman spokesman Arthur Sheriff. "It's turned out to be a terrible day."

The Avon Fire and Rescue service said the roof and three interior walls of the Victorian warehouse collapsed in the blaze, which broke out at about 5:30 a.m. (0430 GMT). The cause of the fire was being investigated.

Sheriff said the warehouse contained sets, props and models from all the company's past productions, from the children's cartoon character "Morph" through the Oscar-winning, anthropomorphic "Creature Comforts" series to the Wallace and Gromit films.

Aardman said the sets and props from "Curse of the Were-Rabbit" were not caught in the blaze.

Wallace and Gromit's creator, Nick Park, said the earthquake in South Asia helped put the loss into perspective.

"Even though it is a precious and nostalgic collection and valuable to the company, in light of other tragedies, today isn't a big deal," he said.

Founded in 1972, Aardman is closely associated with animator Park, who joined in 1986, fresh out of film school.

Park used stop-motion clay animation to create cheese-loving inventor Wallace and his mute but resourceful dog Gromit. They starred in three shorts — "A Grand Day Out" (1989), "The Wrong Trousers" (1993) and "A Close Shave" (1995). The latter two won Academy Awards.

Park and Aardman's Peter Lord also directed the 2000 feature "Chicken Run," which spoofed the World War II prison-camp classic "The Great Escape" with a cast of clay poultry.

"Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit" opened in the United States on Friday and took US$16.1 million (€13.3 million) at the box office over the weekend. It opens in Britain Oct. 14.

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