Psst! Wanna Buy an European Animated Feature?
I won’t separate the wheat from the chaff for ya, but my money’s on The Ugly Duckling and Me (with adequate p&A), and Corto Maltese could make you some decent coin in limited release if you hyped it right… in the theaters, that is.
On DVD, it’s all cream. And you might even be able to inverse the paradigm and distribute in the theatres after they come out on DVD.
May as well get used to it, now: “Straight-to-DVD features is the new frontier, from which the next generation of giants will emerge. Cinema is merely advertising for DVD sales anyway, so why not cut $20 million plus out of the loop and laugh all the way to the bank? Okay, they’re not up to Miyazaki’s standards yet, but give them time — once the accountants realize it’s easier to make a fatter return on a $4 million DVD than a $40 million feature, the giants in waiting will be given their chance to shine and, more importantly, experiment.” Thank you for that bit of world-weary wisdom Alastair Swinnerton of Corsham Ent. (U.K.).
A Tip in the Third The venerable Variety, for example, called Black Mor’s Island “a modest but solidly constructed toon cousin to Pirates of the Caribbean and Master and Commander…”!
As of Annecy, the rights to the spectacular It’s Raining Cats and Frogs from the awesome French studio Folimage were available (gotta cut the bit where the turtle’s weeny is showing though — hurts just to say that.) The Blue Arrow and Zorba and Lucky are marvelous films. Kirikou and the Sorceress, The Boy Who Wanted to be a Bear and Prince and Princesses are all from the same guy who brought you The Triplets of Belleville (and Charley and Mimmo, BTW.)
Help! I’m a Fish is pure Hollywood. Corto Maltese is a huge international publishing and merchandising franchise already. Little Hippo and Laura’s Star are humble but sweet younger kid fare. Carnivale works. Some of the directors include international legends like Bernard Deyriès, Jean-François Laguionie, Jacques-Rémi Girerd, Enzo d’Alo and Michel Ocelot.
Look at the scope of these films! Twenty films in a variety of genres and styles… what more could you ask for? A good deal, you say? I’m sure most of the above producers would jump at the chance to get distributed in the U.S. (and some of these films are already a few years old.) “The giants are out there, largely unknown and unsung, paying their dues and their rent, as Miyazaki, et. al., once did, until they can get their hands on some of that Big Corporate money to make their dream film. Or else, like Plympton, Bakshi, Kricfalusi, etc., they ignore Big Corp. and make films that they want to make which, while not making them rich, do inspire the next generation of potential giants, thus truly making them giants themselves,” Swinnerton swoons.
Streamline dubbed My Neighbor Totoro, Akira, Laputa - The Castle in the Sky, Warriors of the Wind, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Fist of the North Star, The Castle of Cagliostro, Crying Freeman and scads of others. These films were released in Japan to much fanfare but were completely unknown in the U.S. at the time, never mind the classics they are as now. Fast forward to 2003 (17 years after its creation) and Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away wins the Academy Award for best animated feature.
What makes me so sure of myself? I did the post-production deal on the double Oscar-nominated The Triplets of Belleville, was assoc producer on Black Mor’s Island, co-producer on Charley and Mimmo (distributed by Universal in France) and was also involved in The Dog, the General and the Pigeons, written by Fellini and Antonioni, writer, Tonino Guerra, and chosen for the Venice Film Festival in 2002. I defy anyone to tell me whose seen these films — all traditional 2D — that they couldn’t go toe-to-toe with any professional, commercial, independent, 2D, Hollywood fare.
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