Miyazaki's Latest Reigns Over Japan Box Office.
Princess Mononoke (Japanese title Mononoke Hime), the latest animated
feature film from acclaimed director Hayao Miyazaki, recently broke box
office records as the highest-grossing Japanese film ever in Japan. Since
the film was released in July, it has enjoyed sold-out shows at theaters
throughout Japan, bringing in approximately U.S. $108 million at the box
office in Japan, more than five times the amount of money that producers,
Studio Ghibli, spent to make the film. It is expected that that number
will increase to U.S. $137 million by the end of October. Released by Tokuma
Shoten, Princess Mononoke is the first feature film in over five
years from Hayao Miyazaki, whose previous hits include Nausicaa of the
Valley of the Wind and My Neighbor Totoro. These figures are
impressive considering the price of a movie ticket in Japan these days
is the equivalent of U.S. $18.00! The popularity of the film in Japan could
be attributed to Miyazaki's recent announcement that this is the last animated
feature film that he will direct. Buena Vista Home Entertainment has obtained
rights to distribute eight of Miyazaki's films on home video (AF 7/01/97),
including Princess Mononoke, but is not expected to distribute them
until next year at the earliest.
Calico Makes Animals Talk For Saban Feature. Chatsworth, California-based
Calico Entertainment is working on more than 350 visual effects shots (about
30 minutes of film) for Saban Entertainment's live-action feature film,
Rusty: the Great Rescue. The film features a live-action cast of
animals talking through animated mouths, much like the talking pig pioneered
by Rhythm & Hues for the feature film, Babe. Calico is using
several software packages to create the illusion, including: Elastic Reality
for frame-by-frame warping of the live-action footage; Lightwave 3D for
modeling of the replacement mouths; and After Effects and Digital Fusion
for compositing. Calico's president and CEO Tom Burton, who is supervising
producer and effects director on the project, commented, "We're using
a combination of 2D and 3D techniques that draws on our traditional animation
background." Rusty: The Great Rescue"is slated for a direct
to home video release in February 1998.
I Married A Strange Person, the new animated feature from Bill Plympton.
© 1996 Bill Plympton.
I Married A Strange Person Premiere. Bill Plympton's
new animated feature film I Married a Strange Person, has its premiere
in September at the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada. The
premiere launches the worldwide festival tour of the film. The next stop
on the festival circuit is the Hamburg Film Festival in Germany, followed
by The Sitges Fantasy Film Festival in Barcelona, Spain and the San Sebastien
Horror Film Festival, also in Spain. For information about the film or
filmmaker, visit the Plymptoons
web site on Animation World Network.
Terraglyph's Feature In The Works. Dublin, Ireland-based TerraGlyph
Productions are in production on an animated feature film titled Carnivale.
Slated for an early 1999 theatrical release, the 70 minute film will utilize
traditional and digital 2D animation techniques. Talent working on the
film includes Russel Boland as producer, Paul Bolger as animation director
and Australian Deane Taylor (art director on The Nightmare Before Christmas,
All Dogs Go To Heaven II) as director. The 40-person staff in Dublin
is doing design, storyboarding, layout, background, animation, clean-up
and effects work while a 15-person assist crew in Madrid, Spain is handling
additional on animation, clean-up and special effects. Budgeted at U.S.
$10 million, the film is being financed by shareholders and TerraGlyph
Group's backer, Flynn Enterprises (Don Flynn is also a founding shareholder
of Blockbuster Video). TerraGlyph Dublin is the was founded in 1995 as
a division of Chicago-based TerraGlyph Interactive, which produces animation
for multimedia titles.
Animation World News is compiled daily for publication in the AWN Daily Flash, the weekly Animation Flash email newsletter, and monthly issues of Animation World Magazine.
Send your newsworthy items, press releases, and reels to:
Email: wendyj@awn.com
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