Animation World Magazine, Issue 1.10, January 1997

News -- January 1997

 

UN Copyright Conference Agrees on Two Treaties. The three-week Geneva-based conference hosted by the UN's World Intellectual Property Organization ended December 20 with an agreement by 160 countries on two of three proposed treaties. The treaties, which have to be ratified by the governments of the participating countries, are the first attempt to revise international copyright law in 25 years and deal with the some of the new problems posed by such new technologies as the Internet. The agreements are intended to broaden protection for copyright holders, thus encouraging use of the Internet to distribute their product. Bruce Lehman, the US Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, claimed that the treaties "will be the cornerstone of international economic law for the information and technological age of the 21st century."

One contentious aspect of the treaties held that even the making of temporary computer copies of material would have violated copyright law, but it was eliminated at the last minute. A third treaty, which dealt with databases, had been unsuccessfully put forth by the US delegation, even though it lacked support in the US Congress.

FCC Approves Digital Broadcast Standards. As expected, on December 26, 1997, the Federal Communications Commission approved the new standards worked out by various groups representing broadcasters, the computer industry, and consumer electronics manufacturers. The standards pave the way for the coming of high definition television (HDTV) broadcasting, which conceivably could appear as early as 1998, though this is thought unlikely. Conventional wisdom seems to indicate that TV sets will increasingly be built in a widescreen format. One wonders, how TV shows designed for the current aspect ratio will ultimately be handled; back in the early 1950s, when widescreen formats became all the rage, older films invariably were shown with the tops and/or bottoms of their pictures cut off. The coalition of Hollywood creative personnel, led by Steven Spielberg, unsuccessfully lobbied for standards which would have curtailed this sort of practice (as well as diminished the pan and scan tactics used when widescreen films are broadcast today), but were left behind when their brief alliance with the computer industry broke down.

Beavis and Butt-head Do America Sets Box Office Record in Opening Weekend. The MTV/Geffen animated feature, directed by Mike Judge, took in $20.1 million for its opening weekend in the US and Canada, the largest take for a non-sequel opening in December. The numbers seemed to have surprised almost everyone in the industry, including distributor Paramount Pictures. Given the film's relatively low budget (estimated to be between $10 and $13 million), the film will almost certainly become profitable in fairly short order, even if its popularity wanes in the coming weeks; in fact, it could even provide a greater return on investment than the much higher budgeted Space Jam and outdo the equally high cost Mars Attacks! in gross receipts.

Perhaps the greatest significance of the film's surprise financial success, is that it is the first American animated feature aimed at something other than a family audience to do well since the heyday of Ralph Bakshi (Fritz the Cat). It also signifies the return of New York as a important regional production center for theatrical film. The city which was once home to such cartoon stars as Felix the Cat, Betty Boop, Popeye and Mighty Mouse, and such studios as Fleischer and Terrytoons, has been enjoying a renaissance of late, thanks in large part to the recent animation boom and the efforts of MTV Networks, whose Nickelodeon and MTV cable TV divisions have funded a number of New York productions. The largest local employer, though, has been MTV Animation, which initially got into business to make the Beavis and Butt-head TV series. The next animated feature to be made in Gotham could be a version of The Stinky Cheese Man, now in development at Nickelodeon Movies.

Colossal Pictures Takes On Brooks McChesney as President & Chief Executive Office. The appointment, who had been executive vice president and chief operating officer at IVN Communications, a -based producer and distributor, will take over the reins at the troubled San Francisco studio, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last May. At the same time, Colossal co-founder Drew Takahashi now becomes the company's chief creative officer and chairman. The hope is that McChesney's appointment will take the company, which had once been one of the largest commercial houses in the US and an innovative producer of such animated TV series as Liquid Television and Aeon Flux, will now be able to come out of bankruptcy. The studio still does commercials on a more limited basis and has expanded into the Web design business. Once the major Bay Area animation house, it has since been eclipsed by companies such as Pixar, Twitching Image and Wild Brain.

16th Brussels Cartoon and Animated Film Festival, February 4-16, 1997. The 13-day event will show no than 14 new features and over 100 shorts, along special guests from France, Great Britain, Italy, Germany, the US and Belgium. The festival opens with two live-action/animated features: Steve Barron's The Adventures of Pinocchio and Joe Pytka's Space Jam . Other features include Enzo d'Alò's The Blue Arrow, John Coates' The Wind in the Willows, and Laila Hodelle's puppet film, The Ballad of Holger the Dane. Mike Judge's Beavis and Butt-head Do America and Werner II, from Germany, are also possibilities. Britain's Sarah Ann Kennedy will talk about her TV series,Crapston Villas, while the Aaargh! Studio will present a programof shorts featuring Gogs. On the computer animation front, there will be programs highlighting the work of such studios as Ubisoft, Industrial Light and Magic and Medialab.There will also include the best of international animation over the last year, as well as exhibitions on animation pioneer Emile Cohl, CD-ROMS, plasticine characters in films selected for the Brussels Festival, along with creative workshops for children. For further details check out the Folioscope/Brussels Festival home page.

World Animation Celebration Debuts March 24-30. The multi-faceted event, featuring a glitzy reincarnation of Expanded Entertainment's Los Angeles Animation Celebration, will be held at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium and other nearby facilities; the affair will be done under the aegis of the company's Animation Magazine division. (The magazine got its start as the program book for the old Animation Celebration, which was the only major animation festival in the US.) The Celebration claims that it will have "over 1,000 screenings of both premieres and classics of animation and anime . . . competitions for features, shorts, screen-writing and original character development with over $150,000 in prize money." In addition to the Los Angeles Animation Celebration, the event will include the New Animation Technology Exhibition (featuring the latest in hardware and software) and ASIFA-Hollywood's Animation Opportunities Expo (the industry's premiere job fair); the latter event will also include Women in Animation's Animation Industry Seminars. The event is the brainchild of Terry Thoren, who is the publisher of Animation Magazine as well as president and chief executive officer of Klasky Csupo. For further information, including competition registration and event schedules, contact the World Animation Celebration, 30101 Agoura Court, Suite 110, Agoura, CA 91301 USA, (818) 991-2884, or at Animag@aol.com.

Emily Hubley's Her Grandmother's Gift Wins at 30th New York Exposition of Short Film and Video. This and other awards will be presented to the winners of the competition in conjunction with their screening at the Donnell branch of the New York Public Library, January 9, 16 and 23. Admission is free.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame Gets Golden Globe Nomination. Composer Alan Menken received the nod in the category of Original Score--Motion Picture. This was the only animated production to receive a nomination this year. (Disney's animated feature often get nominated in the Motion Picture--Musical or Comedy and the Original Song--Motion Picture categories.) The awards, which cover both movies and television, are presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and are often seen as a preview of the Academy Awards. The winners will be announced at the 54th annual awards show in Beverly Hills on January 19.

Westwood Studios Releases Macintosh Version of Command and Conquer for DOS. The game, which has sold over 1.2 million units, the company maintains keeps all the features of the original version, while adding SVGA graphics and improved Internet capabilities. It has a suggested retail price in the US of $59.99.

The following items are from AWN's December 7, 1996 Email News Flash:

Chapman University To Host Symposium on Film Preservation and SAS Conference. The Southern California' university's School of Film and Television has put out a call for papers, pre-constituted panels and workshops for the one-day event to take place on April 19, 1997, with proposals due in by January 15, 1997.

The School will also play host to the 10th annual Society for Animation Studies Conference in August 1998.This 10 day conference will "feature workshops, panels, screenings, demonstrations, scholarly papers, and other events covering a full-spectrum of animation-and motion-picture-related topics. Included materials will cover areas from pre-cinema devices (optical toys, magic lanterns, and so forth) to the latest in new technologies. A call for papers, pre-constituted panels and workshops will be distributed in Fall 1997." For more information on either event, or to be placed on the mailing list, contact: Dr. Maureen Furniss, School of Film and Television, Chapman University, 333 N. Glassell St., Orange, CA 92866; phone: (714) 744-7018; fax: (714) 997-6700; email: furniss@chapman.edu.

Paramount to Debut New Rugrats Episode on Home Video: The episode of the popular show, produced by Klasky Csupo, will be released by Paramount Home Video in July 1997, about eight weeks before it airs on Nickelodeon. The special, which tells of a visit to Las Vegas, is the second of three planned for the current season--the others being this year's Hanukah special and one due for Mother's Day 1997. The series is also being developed into an animated feature under the Nicktoons Movie banner, which will be released through Paramount. (Both Nickelodeon and Paramount are divisions of Viacom.)

MCA Buys Into Bagdasarian for Chipmunks Rights: MCA, Inc. has signed and agreement that will last a minimum of10 years with Bagdasarian Productions for rights to use the Chipmunks characters for its various activities, ranging from theme parks and licensing to new projects. The deal includes distribution rights to the several TV series, specials, home videos and The Chipmunk Adventure animated feature. MCA is the parent company of Universal City Studios, which has several theme parks, as well as housing the Universal Cartoon Studios. Bagdasarian, headed by Chipmunks' creator David Seville, is now based in Santa Barbara, California.

DreamWorks Signs First-Look Deal With Vanguard: Vanguard Films, headed by John Williams, is now developing an animated feature based on William Steig's children's book, Shrek, with a screenplay being written by Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio (Aladdin). Also in the works is Galaxy High School 2000, a live-action comedy based on the TMS (Tokyo Movie Shinsha) animated series created by Chris Colombus (now known for directing such films as Home Alone and Mrs. Doubtfire), who is in negotiations to direct and co-produce the film.

The following items are from AWN's December 21, 1996 Email News Flash:

London International Advertising Awards Announced. The winners in animation-related categories are:

NICKELODEON INCREASES DOMINATION OF US KIDS AUDIENCE. Nielsen ratings released by the cable network this past week were used to back up its claim that it controls 57% of the viewing time for children aged 2-11. With the exception of the Cartoon Network, whose penetration in the American market is comparatively minimal, no other network or station can match its 103.5 hours of kids programming. (In comparison, other networks run anywhere from 5 to 20 hours a week.) The ratings also indicate that Nickelodeon's viewership is up 15% for the 1996-97 season so far versus an 18% decline for its rivals. They also claim to have 40 of the top 50 shows and 78 of the top 100 among children 2-11. The figures are even more impressive when one realizes that it is available in only 71% of American TV households, which is much less than the major broadcast networks. With Nickelodeon expanding its children's programming, including new Nicktoons, into the evening hours, its position can only get stronger over the short term. This dominance has led CBS to abandon its long-standing commitment to Saturday morning animation in favor of programming aimed at older kids.

DreamWorks' Invasion America Prime-Time Series Set For WB Network in 1998. The show, created by Stephen Spielberg and executive produced by Star Trek veteran producer-screenwriter Harve Bennett, will be the first show made by DreamWorks Television Animation. The show concerns the adventures of a 16-year-old Earth boy who is half alien and who leads the planet's defense against invaders from the planet Tyrus. It will feature the voice talents of Leonard Nimoy, Kristy McNichol, Edward Albert and Tate Donovan.

Alan Spencer and Corky Quackenbush Team To Do Prime Time Puppet Series on Fox. The Fox network, the only terrestrial network with a strong commitment to prime time animation (The Simpsons and Mike Judge's forthcoming King of the Hill) has put a new, though untitled series to be animated by Quackenbush, whose shorts are one of the highlights of Fox's Mad TV show. Spencer, who is best known for his late-1980s Sledge Hammer comedy series, will act as executive producer along with Quackenbush and 3 Arts Entertainment's Howard Klein. The series centers around a teenager and, according to Spencer, is "a coming-of-age story in the tradition of Summer of '42, Catcher in the Rye and The Omen.

Rick Rich to Direct Animated The King and I For Morgan Creek. The adaptation of the Rogers & Hammerstein musical had been first optioned to be made into an animated feature by Rankin/Bass Productions, who will co-produce the film with Morgan Creek and will be released by Warner Bros., which brokered the deal. Morgan Creek is no stranger to theatrical animation, having included an animated sequence by Chuck Jones in its 1992 comedy, Stay Tuned. The film is to be produced by Morgan Creek's James Robinson, Rankin/Bass' Arthur Rankin, and Peter Bakalian, who co-authored the screen adaptation with Jaqueline Feather and David Seidler. Rankin/Bass is best known for such TV specials as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, but also ventured into animated theatrical features with The Last Unicorn. Rick Rich is best known as director of The Swan Princess, the feature produced by his company Rich Animation, which will apparently handle the animation production

Universal to Do Direct-to-Video Versions of Hercules and Xena. Universal Studios Home Video plans to make animated feature-length versions of two of its TV series: Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. Hercules is due out in fall 1997 and will feature the voices of the actors in the series, including Kevin Sorbo and Lucy Lawless, and will also include three original songs. Universal Cartoon Studios will handle production chores, which also made the label's highly successful feature-length sequels to Don Bluth's The Land Before Time. The animated version of Hercules, one assumes, is being timed to cash in on the publcity generated by Disney's summer release of Hercules.

Success of 101 Dalmations Helps Sales of New Tv Series. The animated show, which Buena Vista Television will release 65 episodes into the US syndication market, which has already been cleared in more than 85% of the country. The TV series is the first product of Disney's alliance with cereal manufacturer Kellogg Co., to which Kellogg has committed advertising money. The alliance was in part due to pressures on the syndication market, as fewer time slots are available on independent stations, many of which have opted to program animation from the nascent WB and UPN networks. Even with the Disney and Kellogg's marketing machine behind it, the 101 Dalmatians TV show is having to settle for less desireable time slots than the Mouse House usually got in the past.

Cartoon Network Shorts Go Theatrical. The cable network is teaming up with General Cinema, a major theater chain, and Kraft Foods to provide 20 minutes of Cartoon Network programming, including a World Premiere Cartoon. The material will be part of General Cinema's Saturday morning screenings of feature-length family films.

Cinar Films to Increase Production By 34% in 1997. The Montreal-based studio announced that it will increase its spending from C$42.9 (US$31.6) million this year to C$57.5 (US$42.4) million in 1997. This includes eight animated and four live-action shows, both renewals and new shows. Their new animated TV shows include The Country Mouse and the City Mouse (26 episodes, to be co-produced by France Animation in association with Ravensburger Film & TV) and Dr. Xargle (a 13 episode comic drama to be done with HTV and King Rolo Films in the UK). The company will also do two series for Teletoon, the all-cartoon cable network which Cinar has an equity interest in: Caillou (a series of five-minute vignettes) and Animal Crackers (based on Roger Bollen's comic strip).

Ed Jones and Others Leave Cinesite, May Form New Company. The president of the Eastman Kodak-owned effects house quit his job on Friday, December 13, along with four of his top aides: Sharon Berlin, director of human resources, Warren Franklin, chief operating officer, Mitzi Gallagher, vice president of production, and Terry Thurlow, chief financial officer. Jones, who was Cinesite's first employee, gained considerable exposure lately for supervising the marriage of live-action and animation in Space Jam. (Some years earlier, he did the same for Who Framed Roger Rabbit.) The mass exodus seems to be a prelude to Jones' forming his own company. In the meantime, Aidan Foley, the vice president and general manager of Cinesite's Digital Motion Imaging Division will take over as president.

THE INK TANK SIGNS FOUR ARTISTS/FILMMAKERS FOR NEW DIVISION. R.O. Blechman's New York-based studio, known for its TV commercials and specials including the Emmy-winning L'Histoire du Soldat, has set up a new division, The Ink Tank Too. The new division will feature the talent of independent filmmaker Suzan Pitt (Asparagus and Joy Street), Maciek Albrecht (Close to You), designer and illustrator Santiago Cohen (who has done film work for the Children's Television Workshop), and New Zealand animator John Robertson (who has done work for MTV). The four will be used for TV and feature projects.

Blechman stated that the four "are true auteurs, [which is] common enough among independent animators, but highly unusual in commercial animation." Although Blechman has often used the graphic styles of many other artists in making films and commercials, he has always closely supervised all the spots made at the studio for the past 20 years. But Blechman felt that, "It was time to bring in fresh blood--new attitudes, different approaches--to supplement mine." In doing so, Blechman seems to be returning, in part, to the original idea behind the studio, which aimed to hook up the talents of a number of artists with clients; however, the idea was abandoned when most ad agencies just seemed to want work done by Blechman using his fabled squiggly line.

VILLAGE ROADSHOW BUYS HALF OF YORAM GROSS FILM STUDIOS. Gross, said to be the largest indigenously-owned animation house in Australia, first made its reputation with its series of Dot feature films, combining animation and live-action. Of late, it has concentrated on television, gaining a measure of international success with its Blinky Bill series. The deal, however, will now permit Gross to re-enter the theatrical arena; at the same time, it will allow Village Roadshow, a major Australian entertainment company, to expand into children's programming.

Digital Domain to Expand Commercial Operation and Signs Limited Pact With IATSE. The Venice, California high tech company founded by James Ross, James Cameron and Stan Winston with backing from IBM and Cox Communications, announced that they will expand production of TV commercials. This move, which comes at a time when a number of other CGI/special effects studios are withdrawing from this arena, will entail moving their commercial operations into larger, separate facilities. In addition, the company is hiring Patrick Davenport (director of special effects at London's The Moving Picture Company) to become Digital Domain's director of digital operations for commercials, and London-based visual effects artist Andy MacDonald (where he has his own company, Chinchilla); both will be moving to California. Finally, Digital Domain will start a special group targeting the automotive industry.

The company has also signed an agreement with the International Alliance of Theatrical & Stage Employees (IATSE) covering non-CGI workers hired on a per project basis. That is, the pact includes the traditional "backlot" live-action personnel, but excludes animators. The Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists, IATSE Local 839, has been attempting to organize digital animators lately with success coming mostly at major studios. (For instance, Sony Pictures is now negotiating a contract with the local for its Imageworks operation, which has set up a character animation division.) The only major independent CGI house where the animation staff is unionized is Industrial Light & Magic, based in San Rafael, California, which falls under the jurisdiction of IATSE Local 16, in San Francisco.

Animasia and Kennedy Merge to Form Animasia International. Animasia, a Singapore-based studio owned by Wurthelam company, has merged with Manila-based Kennedy Cartoons to form a full-service animation studio to make TV series, feature films, commercials and multimedia projects. The new company is currently doing a pilot for a new series, Rebel Without a Cause, a "rock 'n roll comedy" created by Kennedy Cartoons founder Glen Kennedy, a Canadian who once worked at Hanna-Barbera. The new studio is also as doing the animation on the American TV series, Chucklewood Critters (Encore Enterprises). The new studio has about 215 people on staff in Manila and 30 in Singapore.

Paul Vester to Join Rhythm & Hues and to Wed Irene Kotlarz. British animator Paul Vester will close his 23-year-old London studio, Speedy Films, by year's end to join Los Angeles-based Rhythm & Hues as director of animation, effective February 1, 1997. Rhythm & Hues is one of the top CGI houses in the US and is known for such commercials as the Coca-Cola Polar Bears spots and for its work on such films as Babe. Vester's focus will lie primarily in commercials, but will also be available for feature work. He has produced a number of spots for the American market dating back to 1985's classic Hershey's spot, One of the All-Time Greats. He was later represented in the US by Andy Arkin's Blah Blah Blah, in New York, through which he forged relationships with such studios as Broadcast Arts and R/Greenberg Associates; more recently he was represented by San Francisco's Colossal Pictures.

Vester apparently will take advantage of his move to the Los Angeles area to wed his long-time companion, Irene Kotlarz, who is best known for her work as director of the Cardiff Animation Festival and its predecessors in Cambridge and Bristol.

ROB COHEN SIGNS WITH ILM FOR COMMERCIALS. Cohen, director of such major films as Sylvester Stallone's Daylight, will now be represented by Industrial Light & Magic Commercial Productions, in San Rafael, California, to do TV spots. His past work with ILM has included the film Dragonheart, which featured a computer animated dragon as one of the main characters, as well as on Daylight.

BDA to Hold 1st European Conference In Barcelona. BDA International, an international association of art directors, animators, designers and other design/graphic artists, will hold a two-day design/marketing conference March 3-4, 1997, at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Barcelona, in association with PROMAX. One session, "Animation Art Evolves," will discuss "a creative approach to animation and its use in full-length motion pictures, including the technical process and distribution of digital tools." Panelists include Dan Philips (DreamWorks Feature Animation) and Michael Coldewey (Munich Animation). Registration is US$495. For further information, contact BDA International, 145 W. 45th St., Suite 1100, New York, NY 10036-4008, telephone: (212) 376-6222, fax: (376-6202), email: bdanel@aol.com.

Snow White's Overdue Royalty. Walt Disney and video distributor Gaumont Buena Vista International have been ordered by a Paris court to pay overdue royalties to Lucie Dolene, who dubbed the title role in Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in French over 30 years ago. Initially, there will be down payment $20,000 for overdue royalties and $6,000 because her name did not appear in the film's credits; in addition, a court-appointed expert will determine the exact amount the two companies owe Dolene for video and audio cassettes sold in France and other French-speaking territories..

US Postal Service Selling Animated Video. The 24-minute tape from Golden Books, Rudolph, Frosty & Friends Sing Along Video, apparently based on Rankin/Bass TV specials, is being sold for $4.99 with the purchase of $3 worth of Priority Mail. Golden Books has made 5 million copies of the tape available to the Postal Service and is prepared to make another 5 million available if needed.

CF VIDEO OPENS FABLEVISION ANIMATION DIVISION. The Watertown, Massachusetts multimedia and video production house has opened FableVision Animation Studios, which will be headed by Peter Reynolds. Reynolds had been vice president/creative director at Tom Snyder Productions in Boston. The new division will produce traditional 2D animated for TV, interactive and corporate productions. The new facility will be able to take advantage of CF Video's facilities, which 3D computer animation.

 

Back to the Table of Contents
Feedback?
Past Issues
AboutHelpHomeInfo@awn.comMail
Register
[about | help | home | info@awn.com | mail | register]

© 1996 Animation World Network