There's such a plethora of animation stories out there, let's continue the link-fest we launched on Friday ...
More bad news for the "Ratatouille is a horrible under-performer" crowd:
Remy's ruling the roost at the international box office, even though it's four months after the original release of "Ratatouille." ... Pixar pic's on target to hit the $300 million international mark as early as the Oct. 19-21 weekend, thanks to strong holdovers, plus openings in China, Italy, Poland and Sweden.
And a French Canadian cartoon makes a splash on the eastern side of the Atlantic:
MONTREAL -- One of the hottest Canuck websites pulls in huge numbers thanks to odd "South Park"-like animation sketches featuring a slew of blue-collar characters who speak in rough, slang-filled Quebecois French.
Tetes a Claques -- which translates literally as "faces you'd like to slap" -- clicked with French-Canadians from the moment it hit the web last fall, and it's now set to try to conquer new markets.
The site is beginning to make inroads in France, which led Canal Plus to strike a deal with Salambo Prods., site-creator Michel Beaudet's company, to buy Franco broadcast rights to the first 45 clips from the site.
And Japanese anime features -- according to Variety -- are getting away from their rampaging 'bots and young willowy females underpinnings:
... [A]nime films, which have typically topped the B.O. with themes intended for children ... are increasingly being shaped for wider audiences through new means of expression and different sources of inspiration.
"The trend in anime is to experiment with various ideas," says Sachio Masugata, a representative of Enta Matsuri, which is forecast to have attendance topping 180,000, up more than 10% on last year.
Back stateside, new animation will be unspooling at a Boston screening:
... 15 animated films, including five premieres, [will be] presented next Sunday at the Institute of Contemporary Art at 100 Northern Ave.
The offerings feature regional artists who have been pouring their vivid imaginations into animated renderings and spending an inordinate amount of time on their work.
"The fact that there are five animators ready with premieres at the same time is so unusual and exciting," Gentile said. "Usually premieres are scattered."
Lastly, the Mouse House is entertaining the sturdy core of the nation with clips from upcoming film projects:
As part of the Heartland Film Festival, [Mark] Zoradi, president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Group, will give a sneak peek tonight of three scenes from Disney's big holiday film, "Enchanted," plus exclusive looks at several other upcoming movies....
Zoradi will also show clips from several other upcoming Disney films never seen by the public, including "Bolt," about an adventure-seeking dog voiced by John Travolta, and "Wall-E," the next Pixar feature about a robot who breaks out of his programmed life. There also will be a preview of "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian." ...
Don't overstress yourself during the upcoming workweek...
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2 comments:
I'm always glad to see anime coverage in the mainstream, but it looks like mainstream coverage of anime still has some ways to go:
With all of the dazzling effects in "Appleseed: Ex Machina," it is perhaps ironic that its most remarkable elements might be the strong personalities embodied in the female characters -- a stunner considering male-centric Japanese hierarchy -- and the love triangle subplot, something "Appleseed" lacked.
I suspect the writer did his best, but one of the earliest examples of a strong personality in a female anime character dates back to a 1967 TV show called Princess Knight. That show may have inspired the powerful "Oscar" female lead in the 1979 TV series, Rose of Versailles.
With the possible exception of Clarice in Castle of Cagliostro, I thought all of Hayao Miyazaki's female characters had strong personalities, too.
$0.02
I think Disney's expecting a lot better than this for the $7 billion sticker price they paid. Just a hunch. :-)
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