Former Imagi employees called to tell me that the Sherman Oaks studio closed its doors last Friday.
My first reaction was "Whaaaa?"
But sure enough. There's this:
Imagi International Holdings Ltd (OTCBB: IINHY, IINHY message board) has announced large scale review of operations which has mostly negative effect towards the staff.
The company has cut off their US subsidiaries from any funding, the working contracts for 30 employees were terminated and the Los Angeles based office closed. The company was left with only a few important staff members being utilized as consultants and has transferred the functions of the closed office to other contractors.
I find this sad and depressing. The company had high aspirations a couple of years back. It had several projects in development. It had a large (and growing) staff. It had morale that was pretty good.
But when your first picture comes out and flops, it kind of casts a pall. And when you run out of money and fail to pay staff, you have shot yourself in both feet and one of your shoulders.
But where there is ying, there is also yang:
It looks as if it's going to be a big year for DreamWorks Animation.
In 2010, DWA will become the first studio to release three CGI animated films in one year. That's a potential game-changer as the studio will have five films hitting screens every two years instead of the three or four so far ...
Let's just call it the ever-turning, ever-changing circle of cartoon commerce. As one fades away, another rises up.
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45 comments:
Three films a year? I don't know if people are going to breath with so many DW's films in there. After all, that's a lot of farts.
Audiences better bring gas masks, it's going to be a very smelly theater.
Well, at least you'll know which theater Katzenberg's film is in. The one that smells.
Wow, with clever jokecraft like that, Bory has ever right to condemn the largest union employer's entire output.
I feel bad for Imagi, because its movie Astro Boy was really enjoyable - great animation, solid story, a really lovable main character. It should have done much better than it did, but then, it had Summit as its distributor (and nobody kills good movies like Summit - just ask the crew behind The Hurt Locker) and also had some of the worst advertising I have ever seen for any film; the fact that the movie made just 1.7 million on its opening day is proof enough of that. It really hurts to see a good movie fail, and good people who put so much of their talent into it get screwed as a result. Alas, poor Imagi. Alas, poor Astro Boy...could have been a great new franchise...sigh...
Well, at least you'll know which theater Katzenberg's film is in. The one that smells.
So. How are things up there in Emeryville?
Ahh, you've heard? Hehe.. It'll get fixed. As it always does and with no fart jokes either. Ok, so Mater might have one.
But that's all..
it always starts with a single fart joke. it's a slippery slope...
Astro Boy wasnt that good. Is anyone surprised?
Astro Boy was excellent. Need I bring up the Iron Giant analogy again? How about the movie The Hurt Locker that the poster up above mentioned? It's being nominated and awarded all over the place by various critics' groups for Best Picture - but it too was a box office flop (Summit strikes again). I too am sorry for the crew at Imagi. They - and the great little movie they made - deserved better.
New banned phrase: "Game Changer."
Avatar wasn't (done better elsewhere), and nothing DW does, no matter how enjoyable, will be "game changing."
Astroboy was a middling kids cartoon audiences rejected. But it suffered just as much from bad marketing. No one cares about Astroboy--especially the target audience of children, virtually all whom have never HEARD of astroboy.
Is TMNT not considered Imagi's first film? As a turtles fan from the 80's, I rather enjoyed their take on the franchise and was hoping for more installments. It was successful (tripled its budget) too. It's a shame about Astro Boy though...
I'll bet that next's year oscar will go for How To train your Dragon, not for Toy Story 3
Imagi...that's really bad news
I'm looking forward to Dean DuBlois' new film, How to Train your Dragon. I just wished the designs were appealing.
Does someone wanna get those links above erased. We have a demented mind at work.
Yes.. to correct this statement... "TMNT" was Imagi's first animated feature film and is what made the office's in Sherman Oaks possible. ... went downhill after that.
@BuckPrivate
Your analogy is bogus. While both were box office stinkers, only Iron Giant is loved by nearly everyone who sees it.
Same cant be said for AstroBoy. You may have liked it, but the majority of people didnt.
@Anonymous above
Your ignorance is showing. The Yahoo Movies user review board (these are ordinary moviegoers who saw the film) gave the film a B+. Similarly, the user boards at the Rotten Tomatoes website gave the film a 75% Fresh Rating. The readers at the oft-quoted and heavily trafficked Box Office Mojo site gave the movie a B. I'd like to see your evidence that "the majority of people" who gave the movie a chance didn't like it. In addition to the data I quoted above, my personal experience is that every single person I know who saw the movie either liked it or loved it. And those who have children have told me their kids adored it. All in all, I'd say that there's viable evidence that while Astro Boy may have be a failure at the box office, as a movie it's a success - as was Iron Giant. It's a fair comparison. I saw Iron Giant during its opening weekend, and loved it. Later I read in the newspaper that it had failed, and felt badly for the film. I feel the same way about Astro Boy - because it's of similar quality. Imagi did a damn good job with an iconic character which has lost its relevance in the 21st century. I applaud the company for its worthy effort and hope for better things for it in the future.
@BuckPrivate
With all due respect, your bias is showing. You left off Rotten Tomatoes critics score, which got a less than stellar 49%. Sure, user scores are higher for RT and Yahoo, but you must recognize that the majority of people who are going to take their time to review it are probably fans or fanboys.
And all the discussions I've had with others are how AB was a lacking film. A good attempt, but lacking. Again, its no surprise that AB closed Imagi, especially with how stiff the competition is in this industry.
You cannot honestly, with a straight face, say Astro Boy was as good as The Iron Giant. Astro Boy will not go down in history as an under-rated animated masterpiece, no matter how much you squeeze your butcheeks and cry about it otherwise. Yes, you liked it, but a lot of people like films that arent widely accepted and enjoyed. But theres no need to go on a crusade for the damn thing.
That astroboy movie was DULL DULL DULL! It looked like a below average episode of that lame tv show Reboot. And the story was just plain stupid. No heart, no logic, and no profit.
While I don't particularly blame the artists involved, if this is the kind of film the directors of imagi want to make--good riddance.
Imdb users gave it a 6.4/10 from 1900 reviews.
@all the Anonymous-ers who just don't get it:
Yeah, I can, with a straight face, say Astro Boy was as good as The Iron Giant. I suspect those of you who get your backs up about the comparison are yourselves "fan boys" - Brad Bird fan boys. So your bias is showing. And if you want to quote movie critics, Roger Ebert liked the Astro Boy movie and said it was better than Monsters vs Aliens and Kung Fu Panda. With which I heartily agree.
"No heart, no logic"? You, sir, have not seen the film. Period. It has plenty of heart, the kind that brings a tear to the eye and makes you cheer on the main character. And the story is solid, at least as solid as per the manga it was derived from. Try watching a movie before you diss it. As for the Yahoo movie users board, I'd suggest you guys try reading the comments there. Most of them were obviously written, not by fanboys, but by people who took their kids to see Astro Boy and the entire family wound up loving it.
I truly wonder about and pity people who watch a good movie and lack the ability to enjoy it. And I pity even more those who get a charge out of dissing a good movie whether they've seen it or not, based solely on box office OR the fact that it wasn't made by a movie studio they happen to worship.
Jesus BuckPrivate. Stop embarrassing yourself.
Is it possible at ALL to consider that NOT everyone liked the movie?
Yeah. EVERYONE who didnt like it is a rabid Pixar fanboy
Um, pardon me for jumping in here, but isn't this an animation website? A pro-animation website? Then why are some here dissing a guy who's trying to speak up for an animated film?
The activity here reminds me of that nature film I once saw of baby sharks, still in their mother's womb, eating each other. Ew.
Wasn't A Wonderful Life a flop? And Fantasia? And Wizard of Oz? But, I like those movies. Is there something wrong with me too?
well after Imagi let go of most of their Sherman Oaks staff back in November...is this really a surprise?
Astroboy was Imagi's *2nd* release. The first - TMNT -was number one in box office revenue on it's release date and went on to become a moderate hit at the box office
Imagi closing down is sad news, no matter how you slice it. anonymous can pontificate all he wants about the "quality" and all that, but the fact is, more studios mean more jobs. It could be argued that too many studios is not a good thing, since that tends to drive salaries down.
Actually more studios would drive prices up as they compete for the same talent.
I only sort of liked AstroBoy, but I was hoping that they would have continued with Gatchaman and exploring more 'mature' animation.
Though it sounds like thewy were severly challenged and had a lot of trouble (even more than usual) putting together a decent story.
More studios bidding for projects means they need to underbid each other, which in turn means lower salaries, longer hours, more compressed schedules. This is what happens in the vfx industry typicaly.
I would argue that the pool of talent right now is not the same as it was in the 90's, when the studios where compeeting for the fhandfull of animators back then. Things have changed though. Animation schools have been pumping out animators left and right.
quality drops, too. and you can see it now in writing, also, since there are even less directors with experience and time to push back against the script. its like a flood of bad loans in the market.
Yeah, I can, with a straight face, say Astro Boy was as good as The Iron Giant. I suspect those of you who get your backs up about the comparison are yourselves "fan boys" - Brad Bird fan boys. So your bias is showing. And if you want to quote movie critics, Roger Ebert liked the Astro Boy movie and said it was better than Monsters vs Aliens and Kung Fu Panda. With which I heartily agree.
This is all fine. I won't make a judgment about the quality of the film, because it's irrelevant.
For purposes of labor, all that matter is that a film was successful in a commercial sense, because it has likely caused the closing of a California studio, the layoff of artists, and a diminished workforce.
Whether the film was "good" or not isn't the issue. Because "good" isn't measurable. Different people have different opinions, and you (or I) can argue good or bad until goslings grow into ganders without proving our cases.
But what IS measurable is whether a film is PROFITABLE or not. And by the accounts I've seen, Astro Boy was unprofitable.
Which is why I focus on box office success. Aesthetic success is in the eye of the beholder.
Iron Giant. Wizard of Oz (not a flop when it came out). It's a Wonderful Life. Astroboy.
Ya see, Three of those films didn't do as well as hoped but are great.
One isn't.
That film is astroboy.
It's a cute kiddie film, but not for children over the age of 8.
Oz was a money loser in its initial release.
That's not true...it wasn't wildly successful, but was a moderate success and did, indeed, make money for the MGM factory.
May I just mention 'Flushed Away' was no blockbuster!!
I did a search with the phrase "was the wizard of oz a flop" and immediately got a page full of websites that say yes it was. FWIW.
And astro boy was awesome. Too bad about Imagi.
Well, we all know the internet never lies. Wizard of Oz was NOT a "flop." But it wasn't the success Mayer had hoped in the wake of "Snow White."
But both films had the added advantage of being re-issued several times before TV took hold. And TV is where Oz really caught on.
Um, pardon me for jumping in here, but isn't this an animation website? A pro-animation website? Then why are some here dissing a guy who's trying to speak up for an animated film?
So all animators have to like all animated films? We cant have subjective taste like everyone else? By that token all musicians have to like all music, and all filmmakers have to like all films.
Forgive me if Im wrong, but no one seems to be "dissing" BuckPrivate, just presenting a different opinion.
If anyone is showing a bit of disrespect and is coming off as overbearing and confrontational, its him. Nobody likes people who make blanket statements like: "AstroBoy is one of the best animated movies ever made and if no one agrees with me then they're stupid, clueless and ignorant."
Seems to me that everyone who is disagreeing with him is saying, while not the worst movie ever made, Astro Boy definitely has its share of mixed reviews and it's no surprise that Imagi is closing due to its poor critical and financial performance.
Who's the more logical here?
"Nobody likes people who make blanket statements like: "AstroBoy is one of the best animated movies ever made and if no one agrees with me then they're stupid, clueless and ignorant."
Unless it's a blanket statement about how wonderful Pixar films is...right, Pixies?
TMNT (yes, the film that made that company) was made for $34 million and grossed just under $100m worldwide. Astroboy, due to the horrible new management, cost mid-60 million at end of day and grossed... well, horribly. That's why that place is closed.
If you are interested, this is a website version of IMAGI’s demise:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117961758.html?categoryid=1236&cs=1&query=TMNT
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117961372.html?categoryid=1236&cs=1
http://www.deadline.com/hollywood/imagi-laying-off-animators/
http://anime-outbreak.blogspot.com/2009/10/astro-boy-flops-takes-in-18-mil.html
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/world/news/e3i6ca0e7bf02077d7ad8ab1b37f7a52ef0
http://www.comicbookmovie.com/animated_features/news/?a=14282
You may have to copy and paste...
In response to the Anonymous #2 (1/26/10 at the top): you said.. "It should have done much better than it did, but then, it had Summit as its distributor (and nobody kills good movies like Summit - just ask the crew behind The Hurt Locker)"..
Are you serious? Are you talking about the same Summit that put out the twilight saga? Personally, I've never seen any of the two (and don't really care to..), but it's very hard to ignore the success they are having with it all. After the twilight movies are done, they could probably sit on their paychecks for a bit of time and be just fine.
Secondly, I'm glad Imagi is tanking. They screwed a large number of people (myself included) on many different levels. It's finally come back around to bite them and take them down. And I, for one, am glad. It's unfortunate that good people will be out of work because of it, but Imagi deserves every ounce of bad fortune that comes their way. The guy above me has it exactly right. Good riddance.
To the two posters above me. I haven't worked for Imagi so don't know what they are like as as a company, but I think it is sad that a lot of people are out of work and SADDER that jerks like you are glad about it because it settles some beef of yours. PEOPLE HAVE LOST JOBS. THERE IS ONE LESS STUDIO FOR US TO WORK AT. Selfish losers.
A rumor has it that they filed bankruptcy yesterday in HK. So sad they ended up like this if it's true.
Here is a pdf the announcement of the HK IPL:
http://www.imagi.com.hk/web/archives/pdf/announcement/announce_20100208E.pdf
It is sad that another studio should die. I will say one thing though if the management had been on top of things here and in Hong Kong this did not need to happen. I don't think that the 'Dreamworks' business model works for most companies.
the sherman oaks office closed on a thursday/friday...liquidators out by monday to claim their prize.
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