Films
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Pokemon
couldn't catch Bond or the Headless Horseman in the B.O.
© Warner Bros. No other uses are permitted without the
prior written consent of owner. Use of the material in violation
of the foregoing may result in civil and/or criminal penalties.
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AWN Animated Box Office Report. November
19 - November 21: The new Bond flick The World Is Not Enough
beat out Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow for the top spot in the
U.S. weekend box office. The third installment of the 007 series with
star Pierce Brosnan in the lead role, grossed US$37.2 to become the
best opening of any Bond flick and the biggest debut in MGM history
in the States. The primary visual effects for the film were done by
Digital Film, Cinesite London, and Magic Camera. Burton's Sleepy
Hollow, based off the Washington Irving story, finished second
with a gross of $30.5 million. Visual effects for Sleepy Hollow
were primarily provided by Industrial Light & Magic, with additional
effects by CFC London. Therefore, that poor old Pokemon: The First
Movie had to settle for third with a gross of $13.3 million. The
cume for Pikachu and friends is up to $68.2 million. Not bad for a
film Warner Bros. only paid $5 million to obtain. Kevin Smith's Dogma,
with visual effects by Station X Studios, came in 5th with a $4.1
million gross and a cume of $15.8 million. The Messenger, with
effects by French effects-house Dubois, ranked 8th with a $2.5 million
gross, making its cume $10.8 million. Other animation related films
in the top 30 include -- Buena Vista's mega-hit Sixth Sense
at #11, with a gross of $1.62 million; Warner Bros.' House On Haunted
Hill at #12, with a gross of $1.54 million; Providence's Omega
Code at #18, with a gross of $780,000; and the IMAX-film T-Rex:
Back To The Cretaceous at #28, with a gross of $160,000. Noteworthy,
Toy Story 2 played on 1 screen in L.A. over the weekend and
finished #24 in the nation with a final gross of $300,163. Pokemon's
Pikachu was not available for comment. . . .
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Even Woody
is shocked by the awesome Thanksgiving box office numbers.
© Disney and Pixar.
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November 26 - November 28. Those toon titans of Toy Story
2 crushed box office records over the Thanksgiving weekend. The
Buzz and Woody vehicle beat the 5-day non-summer opening record set
by Pokemon: The First Movie two weeks ago and beat A
Bug's Life's record for the largest Thanksgiving weekend gross
with a take home of US$80.5 million. The sequel to the $192 million
blockbuster had the fourth biggest five-day total in history. The
World Is Not Enough, with primary visual effects by Digital Film,
Cinesite London, and Magic Camera, came in second with a gross of
$23.24 million and a cume of $75.5 million. Arnold Schwarzenegger
is back to save the world from Satan in his new film, End Of Days.
(Why couldn't he have saved us from his last film, Batman And Robin?)
The super-natural flick, with primary visual-effects by Rhythm &
Hues, miniature effects by Sturber Visual Concepts, and miniature
photography by Chandler Group, finished in third with a weekend gross
of $20.52 million and a 5-day gross of $31.5 million. Tim Burton's
Sleepy Hollow, primary visual effects by Industrial Light &
Magic and additional effects by CFC London, finished fourth with a
gross of $18.41 million and a cume of $61.6 million. Pokemon: The
First Movie slipped to fifth with a gross of $7.11 million. For
all who thought that Pokemon's opening was amazing take a look
at this stat, Pokemon's total gross over three weeks is $77.7
million, that's $2.8 million less than Toy Story 2 made in
just five days. Who's the top toon now? Kevin Smith's Dogma,
with visual effects by Station X Studios, came in 7th with a $3.41
million gross and a cume of $21 million. Buena Vista's mega-hit The
Sixth Sense, with visual effects by DreamQuest, made $1.54 million
to finish at 11th and make its total gross $272.3 million. Other special
effects-laden films finishing in the top thirty were: Sony's The
Messenger at #13, with a gross of $1.2 million and a cume of $12.7
million; Warner Bros.' House On Haunted Hill at #18, with a
gross of $710,000 and a cume of $38.6 million; Providence's Omega
Code at #21, with a gross of $500,000 and a cume of $11.5 million;
and Fight Club at #28, with a gross of $220,000 and a cume
of $35.3 million. We are happy to report that Princess Mononoke
made it back into the top 25 at #25. Japan's biggest blockbuster of
all time made $320,000 over the weekend, which brings its U.S. total
to $1.6 million. Box office figures obtained on Lyco's Show Biz Data
Base. . . .December 3 - December 5. Toy Story 2 has
repeated its performance in the top spot at the U.S. box office. The
film took in US$27.76 million over the weekend to bring its two week
total to $116.8 million. The remaining three films in the top four
also stayed the same from Thanksgiving with: The World Is Not Enough,
with primary visual effects by Digital Film, Cinesite London, and
Magic Camera, coming in second with a gross of $10.65 million and
a cume of $90.4 million; End Of Days, with primary visual-effects
by Rhythm & Hues, miniature effects by Sturber Visual Concepts,
and miniature photography by Chandler Group, coming in third with
a gross of $9.64 million and a cume of $45.8 million; and Tim Burton's
Sleepy Hollow, with primary visual effects by Industrial Light
& Magic and additional effects by CFC London, coming in fourth
with a gross of $8.87 million and a cume of $74.1 million. Sixth placed
Pokemon: The First Movie was able to catch another $2.34 million
to bring its grand Poke-total to $80.8 million. Kevin Smith's Dogma,
with visual effects by Station X Studios, finished seventh with a
weekend gross of $2.12 million and a cume of $24.4 million. In an
ironic twist of fate the #1 and #2 grossing films of the year finished
#11 and #12 respectively in the b.o. this weekend. Upon its one-week,
charity re-release Star
Wars: The Phantom Menace,
with visual effects by ILM, took home $1.29 million bringing its total
to $429 million. This total makes it the third highest grossing film
in U.S. history, behind the first Star Wars and that film where
the boat sinks. The Sixth Sense, with visual effects by DreamQuest,
grossed $970,000 over the weekend bringing its total to $273.5 million.
The Sixth Sense isn't only #12 for the week however. It's also
become the 12th highest grossing film of all time. A true testament
to the power of word of mouth. Other special effects-laden films finishing
in the top 30 include: Sony's The Messenger at #18, with a
gross of $520,000 and a cume of $13.6 million; Warner Bros.' House
On Haunted Hill at #20, with a gross of $390,000 and a cume of
$39.2 million; Providence's Omega Code at #21, with a gross
of $320,000 and a cume of $11.6 million; and Fight Club at
#22, with a gross of $230,000 and a cume of $35.6 million. Princess
Mononoke finished at #25 for the second straight week making $210,000
and bringing its U.S. total to $1.9 million. Box office figures obtained
on Lyco's Show Biz Data Base. . . .December 10 - December 12.
The horse race to the box office checkered flag came down to a photo
finish between Toy Story 2 and The Green Mile this past
weekend. When the dust cleared, the toon titans of Toy Story 2
finished #1 at the U.S. box office. The film grossed US$18.25 million
in this its third week in release, bringing its cume to $140.4 million.
In its opening weekend, The Green Mile, with primary visual
effects by ILM and additional animation by Rhythm & Hues, POP
and Matte World Digital, had to settle for second with a gross of
$18.02 million. The big Bond flick The World Is Not Enough,
with primary visual effects by Digital Film, Cinesite London, and
Magic Camera, slipped from second to fourth with a gross of $6.16
million and a cume of $99.4 million. End Of Days, with primary
visual-effects by Rhythm & Hues, miniature effects by Sturber
Visual Concepts, and miniature photography by Chandler Group, finished
the weekend race at #5 with a gross of $4.75 million making its cume
$53.3 million. Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow, with primary visual
effects by Industrial Light & Magic and additional effects by
CFC London, came in sixth with a gross of $4.72 million and a cume
of $81.4 million. Kevin Smith's Dogma, with visual effects
by Station X Studios, edged out Pokemon: The First Movie for
eighth place with a gross of $1.19 million and a cume of $26.4 million.
The Pikachu-vehicle slipped to #9 with a gross of $1.18 million bringing
its total after four weeks to $82.4 million. The Sixth Sense,
with visual effects by DreamQuest, stayed steady at #12 with a gross
of $670,000 making its year to date an outstanding $274.5 million.
Other special effects-laden films finishing in the top 30 include:
Providence's Omega Code at #21, with a gross of $220,000 and
a cume of $11.9 million; Fox's Fight Club at #23, with a gross
of $190,000 and a cume of $35.9 million; Warner Bros.' House On
Haunted Hill at #24, with a gross of $180,000 and a cume of $39.5
million; and Sony's The Messenger at #29, with a gross of $140,000
and a cume of $14 million. Princess Mononoke finished at #30
which is down from its #25 spot of last week. The biggest-blockbuster
in Japanese history made $130,000, bringing its U.S. total to $2.1
million. Box office figures obtained on Lyco's Show Biz Data Base.
Read more about Toy
Story 2 in Karl Cohen's article in Animation World Magazine.
NFR Allows Ducks To Run Amuck Forever. Librarian of Congress
James Billington has announced that Duck Amuck along with 24
live-action films will be added to the National Film Registry. As
part of the Library of Congress, the Registry was established in 1989
to preserve American film heritage. Billington's list is formed by
input from the National Film Preservation Board and the public. With
only 25 selections made each year, Duck Amuck, the 1953 Chuck
Jones short starring Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny, with voices by
Mel Blanc, joins an even smaller list of archived animated films that
include Fantasia, Gertie The Dinosaur, and another Bugs Bunny
short What's Opera, Doc?. Duck Amuck joins the Registry with
such diverse work as Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing, Sam Peckinpah's
Wild Bunch, and George Romero's Night Of The Living Dead.
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Casper gets
a fresh look in a new, all CGI direct-to-video film. ©
Harvey Entertainment Company.
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CGI Casper Haunts From Harvey.
The Harvey Entertainment Company has announced an agreement with Canada's
Mainframe Entertainment, Inc. to produce the first all-CGI direct-to-video
film based on Harvey's Casper, the Friendly Ghost franchise. Production,
which has already started, will be funded by Harvey Entertainment,
with a release to the home video market scheduled for Christmas 2000.
A previous live-action/CGI Casper direct-to-video feature, Casper,
A Spirited Beginning, sold over 3 million copies worldwide. Alisha
Serold, Executive Director of Production and Acquisitions at Harvey
Entertainment will oversee production. Distribution rights are currently
being discussed with an undisclosed, major studio. Mainframe Entertainment
shows currently air on Cartoon Network, YTV, Fox Kids, and Fox Family
Channel and include titles such as Beast Machines and Weird-Ohs.
The Vancouver-based company is also involved in a three picture deal
with IMAX to produce large-format CGI films, the first of which will
be Gulliver's Travels. With this new alliance and other recent
ventures, Harvey Entertainment is aggressively using its large library
of well-known characters to try to propel the company into the future
and solidify its bottom line.
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Mewtwo is
just the first mystery Pokemon to make a premiere on the big
screen. © Warner Bros. No other uses are permitted without
the prior written consent of owner. Use of the material in
violation of the foregoing may result in civil and/or criminal
penalties.
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Pokemon 3? Next summer the
third feature installment of the Pokemon trilogy will make
its way to Japanese theatres. Pocket Monster: The Lord Of The
Unknown Tower will introduce yet another of those little "pocket
things" to kids and merchandising execs around the world. Kunihiko
Yuyama is set to direct the film, which will feature a short tentatively
titled Pokemon 2000. If in the U.S. or Europe one may ask,
whatever happened to Pokemon 2? Well, fear not Charmander
chums, the second Pokemon feature, which was released in
Japan last summer, will hit U.S. theatres this coming summer. The
makers of Pokemon hope that the wave of success that the
first flick is now experiencing in the U.S. will help boost a franchise
that is quickly sinking in Japan. Pokemon: The First Movie
made ¥4.2 billion or US$40.6 million in the summer of 1998,
while the second failed to gross even ¥3.5 billion or US$33.8
million.
Read more about the influence of Japanese animation in the December
issue of Animation World Magazine.
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