Friday, January 15, 2010

The Friday Linkomatic

Here's your linkage for a Friday evening.

The L.A. Times asks the question:

Does 'Mr. Fox' really have a shot at stealing the Oscar from 'Up'?

And supplies its own answer: "Probably not." ...

The Kansas City Star reports on FX's new animated show Archer, produced by a cartoon studio located out of California, but not in China or Korea.

[Show creators Adam Reed and Matt Thomson] shopped around before someone recommended [Trinity Animation] in Missouri that … well, isn’t what you’d call show-bizzy.

Trinity got the job and quickly won over the “Archer” crew.

“I could not be more in love with those guys,” Reed said. “Five times faster and super nice.” They even named a minor character, Capt. Lammers, after Trinity’s founder [Jim Lammers] ....

Some of our beloved congloms are doing some hardball negotiating just now.

Walt Disney Co. is in talks with Liberty Media Corp.’s Starz that may limit the movie channel’s ability to provide films online to Netflix Inc., two people with knowledge of the talks said.

Starz seeks access to Disney films for as many as five years on its cable channel, as well as continued digital rights ...

“Netflix may be challenged to retain some of its most appealing content when Starz renews its Disney distribution deal, which expires in 2012,” Barton Crockett, an analyst with Lazard Capital Markets in New York, wrote in a note today.

The analyst lowered his rating on Netflix to “sell” from “hold,” saying he questioned whether the Los Gatos, California-based company can meet expectations for “continued torrid growth.”

Netflix fell $2.97, or 5.5 percent, to $50.99 today ...

Pixar's first live-action feature starts shooting next week:

Andrew Stanton is directing [John Carter of Mars] for Disney's animation powerhouse; shooting begins next week. The movie will also have CGI elements.

The adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs book series centers on a Civil War veteran (Taylor Kitsch) who finds himself mysteriously transported to Mars ...

I recall a Disney exec pushing JCoM twenty-five years ago. Good that they're finally getting around to some of Mr. Burrough's more neglected titles.

DreamWorks Animation rolls out its upcoming slate of films.

If yesterday's presentation by DreamWorks Animation at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles was any indication, 2010 is going to feature some of the company's best films yet. ...

To nobody's surprise, animation has aided Rupert & Co. in reaping sizable profits.

... [C]ombined with the better-than-expected success of ``Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel''. ``Avatar'' is expected to help News Corp's film division make $US1.26 billion in operating profit in the fiscal year ending in June _ about $US160 million more than initially thought ....

That would mean the film division would have about a third of News Corp's operating profits for the full year. Generally it produces about one-fourth ...

Indiemoviesonline.com offers a multitude of Aardman shorts.

... [W]hen will you be able to wrap your eyeballs around this lucky 13 in cartoon entertainment? Why, from right now...

Think that c.g. animated features enjoy unbroken success? Think again, particularly if you're a large country across the seas ...

Roadside Romeo debacle rocks animation film industry

Animation in India was touted as a high-growth industry, with Nasscom once projecting revenues of $1.16 billion by 2012. Year 2009 was supposed to see a flurry of activity with the release of over 15 animation films which were started in 2005-06 after the success of Hanuman. The industry is shaken, with not a single film making it to theatre screens in 2009. In a recent report, Nasscom has cut back on its projection of the animation industry to $1 billion by 2012 ...

The animation industry was already in deep trouble, having pinned high hopes on Yashraj’s Roadside Romeo that released in October 2008. However, it got a setback as the film flopped ... Shaken by the Romeo debacle, multiplexes and film distributors are reluctant to screen animation films.

You see, it isn't always sunlight, flowers and movie ticket sales in Cartoonland. Sometimes it's weeping and wailing and the gnashing of teeth.

But forget about India's travails. You've got a whole weekend ahead of you. Make the most of it.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Banner year for animation. From big budget films, like the CG Up, Monsters & Aliens, and Ice Age 3, traditionally drawn films like Princess and the Frog, Secret of the Kells, and stop motion films Fantastic Mr. Fox, Mary & Max, and Coraline, and smaller films like 9, Planet 51, and Astroboy. I'm forgetting a whole lot of other features and shorts here that were, at the very LEAST, trying to do something interesting.

All looked different. All looked great. And all drew their various share of good press.

This has been a good year for animation.

Anonymous said...

Is JCOM really a Pixar film? All the VFX are being done overseas (London somewhere?) not at Pixar.

You cant really call it a Pixar film if thats the case, can you? Its more like, just an Andrew Stanton film.

Correct me if Im wrong

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't know what Mr. Fox's chances are since it disappeared from the nearest theater (60 miles away) before I could see it. Since I belong to Asifa, a screener DVD arrived yesterday in a plain brown mailing envelope which the mailman forced into the tiny slot. Its now irreparably warped so I wonder if that's a sign of how it will do in the awards race.

Anonymous said...

That mars film is being done all overseas. What was Disney thinking? It's gonna be awful. Big expensive flop.

Anonymous said...

That mars film is being done all overseas. What was Disney thinking? It's gonna be awful. Big expensive flop.

And you know this...how, exactly?

Unless you are an "insider" with actual access to the work-in-progress, I'm gonna chalk this comment up alongside "Avatar looks lame, it's gonna be a big flop!"

Steve Hulett said...

I take no position on John Carter, since I know nothing about it. I just link to the story.

Anonymous said...

Pretty easy to see this stuff if you work at Framestore. It's an odd one. I take no position if the film will be good or not. But it all looks so much like everything that's been done.

Anonymous said...

My question of whether or not its a PIXAR films still stands.

Anyone know?

C.M.B. said...

Archer is actually produced by Radical Axis in Atlanta. Trinity Animation creates 3D backgrounds for the show.

Site Meter