|
|
ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE - ISSUE 4.3 - JUNE 1999
Film
 |
| The Mummy. Courtesy of and © 1999 Universal Studios. |
AWN Animated Box Office Report.
April 23-25: The Matrix,
the special effects heavy action film starring Keanu Reeves, returned to the
number one spot at the US box office and grossed an estimated $12.6 million
to bring its cumulative gross to $117 million. Doug's 1st Movie finished
16th and grossed $781,800 for a total of $16,947,000; The King And I
finished 28th and grossed $195,800 for a total of $10,900,000; A Bug's
Life finished 31st and grossed $165,000 for a total of $162,577,000; and
The Prince Of Egypt finished 35th and grossed $123,000 for a total
of $100,800,000.. . . . April 24-May 2: The Matrix, the special
effects heavy action film starring Keanu Reeves, dropped to the number two
spot at the US box office last weekend and grossed $8,715,866 to bring its
cumulative gross to $129,715,015. Doug's 1st Movie finished 19th and
grossed $419,110 for a total of $17,513,937; The Prince Of Egypt finished
29th and grossed $166,804 for a total of $101,015,851; The King And I
finished 32nd and grossed $119,103 for a total of $11,152,656; and A Bug's
Life finished 38th and grossed $84,590 for a total of $162,698,584.. .
. .May 7-May 9: Newly released
The Mummy, Universal Studios' CGI-laced revival of its mummy series,
which began with Boris Karloff's 1932 The Mummy, and continued in the
1940s with Lon Chaney, Jr. in such films as The Mummy's Hand, finished
on top in the weekend US box-office charts, grossing $43,369,635--the best
opening this year, the ninth-biggest of all time, and the highest non-holiday
debut in May. The digital effects for The Mummy were created by Industrial
Light & Magic. The Matrix remained in the top five, finishing third
and taking in $5,881,558 to bring its total gross to $138,505,386. Doug's
1st Movie finished 22nd and grossed $268,090 for a total of $17,861,251;
The King And I finished 36th and grossed $89,858 for a total of $11,271,037;
The Prince Of Egypt finished 37th and grossed $89,480 for a total of
$101,105,331; and A Bug's Life did not place among the top fifty for
the first time since its November 1998 release.. . . . May 14-May 16: In
its second week of release, Universal Studios' CGI-laced The Mummy,
with primary digital effects by ILM, once again finished on top in the weekend
US box-office charts, grossing $24,856,320, bringing its total gross to $80,580,605.
The Matrix, another effects driven action film, continues to do well,
finishing third and taking in $4,548,484 to bring its total gross to $145,138,521.
These two films are performing so well that, according to The Hollywood
Reporter, May 14, Universal Pictures is discussing a sequel to The
Mummy, and Warner Bros. is seriously considering a sequel to The Matrix,
which writers/directors Larry and Andy Wachowski had planned to be the
first of a trilogy. The other animated films among the top fifty at the weekend
box-office were Doug's 1st Movie which finished 26th and grossed $223,704
for a total of $18,141,239; The King And I which finished 28th and
grossed $217,229 for a total of $11,514,504; and The Prince Of Egypt
which finished 43rd and grossed $72,569 to bring its total to $101,217,900.
Wild Thornberrys On The Big
Screen. Nickelodeon has announced that, following in the wake of the success
of The Rugrats Movie, another Klasky Csupo produced TV series, The
Wild Thornberrys, will get its own shot at the big screen. The film will
have a budget of at least $25 million and release is expected in 2002. The
Wild Thornberrys is currently the most popular animated TV series on Nickelodeon,
and is about a family of filmmakers who specialize in nature documentaries.
A Bug's Life Becomes 4th Highest Grossing Animated Film. A Bug's Life,
a Walt Disney Pictures presentation of a Pixar Animation Studios film, has
climbed to $358 million in worldwide box office receipts to become one of
the top-grossing animated films of all time. With its domestic gross of $163
million, the film has already become the fourth biggest animated feature released
in the United States (behind The Lion King, Aladdin and Toy Story).
Internationally, A Bug's Life has a gross-to-date of $195 million and
has set records in the United Kingdom, Mexico, Colombia, Thailand and Hong
Kong. Directed by Pixar's John Lasseter and co-directed by Pixar's Andrew
Stanton, the film marked its domestic release on home video and DVD on April
20 and continues to be the No. 1 title -- sales and rental -- in the marketplace.
In addition to becoming the fourth biggest animated feature ever released
in the domestic market, A Bug's Life ranks as the sixth biggest release
of all time in the United Kingdom with a gross to date of nearly $47 million.
With equally impressive tallies of $18 million in Germany, $16.9 million in
France, $14 million in Spain, $12.2 million in Australia and $13.7 million
in Japan in just seven weeks of release, the film continues to be a top draw
in the international markets.
Want to know more about John Lasseter? Read Mike Lyons' "Toon
Story: John Lasseter's Animated Life."
Pixar Announces New Film. A May start date was set for the production
of Monsters, Inc. (tentative title), a new computer-animated feature
to be produced by Pixar Animation Studios under their arrangement with Walt
Disney Studios. The film is targeted for release in 2001. Monsters, Inc.
is a comedy set in a parallel world of monsters who live on the screams and
fear of children. However, because end-of-the-millenium children are jaded
and not easily scared, the monsters' world is in danger of becoming extinct.
When one of the monsters, who goes on a mission to help his world, accidentally
lets a human girl into the secret world, chaos reigns. This latest original
title from Pixar follows Toy Story, A Bug's Life and the upcoming release
of Toy Story 2. Monsters, Inc. is being directed by Pete Docter,
who received an Oscar nomination for his role in creating the original story
for Toy Story, and David Silverman, the Emmy Award-winning supervising
director of The Simpsons. Darla K. Anderson, who produced last year's
animated blockbuster, A Bug's Life, is set to produce. John Lasseter,
Pixar's two-time Oscar-winning director, and Andrew Stanton, co-director of
A Bug's Life, will executive produce.
 |
|
Bugs Bunny in Space Jam.
Courtesy of and © Warner Bros.
|
Warner Bros. Has Three Toon
Features In The Works. It is rumored that filmmakers Barry Levinson and
Paula Weinstein are developing a live-action/animation project that would
feature Bugs Bunny. Preliminary discussions are said to have taken place for
Robin Williams to be Bugs' sidekick. The story line remains undisclosed, but
it's said to be less like Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and more like Anchors
Aweigh, a 1945 musical which features a sequence in which Gene Kelly dances
with Hanna-Barbera's Jerry Mouse. There is also talk of bringing the Tasmanian
Devil to life via a live-action feature. The third project being developed
joins Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and other classic Warner Bros. cartoon stars
with characters from the Tiny Toon Adventures TV show.
Wendy Tilby At Cannes.
Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis' new film, When The Day Breaks, competed
with ten live-action films, and one animated film, Billy's Balloon
by Don Hertzfeldt (Lily + Jim), for the top prize in the Short Film
competition at this year's 52nd Festival de Cannes in Cannes, France. The
Festival took place Wednesday, May 12th through Sunday, May 23rd. Wendy Tilby
is perhaps best known for Strings. For information about prize winners
visit the festival's official homepage at www.festival-cannes.fr/cannes99.
 |
|
Chicken Run stars Mel Gibson
and Julia Sawalha as chickens Rocky and Ginger. Courtesy DreamWorks
LLC
|
Aardman Chickens Set To Run Next June. A release date for AardmanAnimations/DreamWorks' eagerly awaited stop-motion feature, CHICKEN RUN, has been announced for June 23, 2000 in the US. Fifteen minutes of completed footage were recently shown to enthusiastic Aardman employees in England. The film is being directed by Aardman co-founder Peter Lord and Nick Park (The Wrong Trousers,
Creature Comforts), and
is described as The Great Escape with chickens. DreamWorks SKG will
distribute the film in the U.S. and most international territories outside
of Europe. In addition, DreamWorks is the exclusive worldwide licensing and
merchandising rights holder for the film. The other co-financier, French company
Pathe, which has been involved in the production since it went into development
at Aardman over three years ago, will distribute the film in Europe.
Film Tidbits. You can
get a peek at two of this summer's animated features on the web. Artwork from
Warner Bros. upcoming animated feature, Iron Giant, can be found at:
www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Bungalow/9382/irongiant_artwork.htm. Greenlit
in August 1997 by Warner Bros., Iron Giant is based on the 1968 story
"Iron Man" by British poet laureate Ted Hughes and is about a boy
who is befriended by a giant alien robot. Brad Bird (The Simpsons, The
Critic, Family Dog) is directing the film, which combines traditional
and computer generated animation. It has an August 6th release date for the
US. A trailer is available at the http addresses below. The movie is getting
good buzz from insiders and is highly anticipated by fans of Brad Bird. Three
resolutions of the trailer are available:
High-Resolution: www.theatres.sre.sony.com/trailerpark/trailers/0395xx.mov
Medium-Resolution: www.theatres.sre.sony.com/trailerpark/trailers/0395yy.mov
Low-Resolution: www.theatres.sre.sony.com/trailerpark/trailers/0395zz.mov.
Read Brad Bird's article "Director
and After Effects: Storyboarding Innovations on Iron Giant"
in the November 1998 issue of Animation World Magazine.
Links to two trailers for South Park: The Movie can be found
at www.southparkmovie.com. The movie is a "bigger, longer, uncut version"
of the hit Comedy Central TV series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone.
The film was greenlit in July 1998, and is currently scheduled to be released
in the USA on Wednesday, June 30.
Note: Readers may contact any Animation World Magazine contributor by sending an e-mail to editor@awn.com.