Move Over, Walt

Rupert and his minions are working to wrench the cartoon crown away from Diz Co.

Fox will release five animated movies in both 2017 and 2018, the studio announced on Monday, further demonstrating its desire to dominate the feature animation game.

Though none of the 10 movies dated for 2017 and 2018 have titles, that tally surpasses anything Fox or any other studio has done in recent memory. Pixar releases just one movie a year while its parent studio Disney releases some of its own animated movies as well – but not five.

The two-year animated slate also means Fox's two suppliers – Blue Sky and DreamWorks Animation – will combine to make more movies per year than ever before. ...

As it happens, I was over at DreamWorks Animation's Glendale campus this afternoon, but the place didn't have the vibe of a busy beehive. Said one animator:

"Lots of empty cubicles around here. We've gone from being Manhattan, New York to Manhattan, Kansas. Plenty of wide open spaces." ...

I talked to another staffer who's soon to go on hiatus for three months. We had a long talk. He's worried about staying as an employee of DWA for the next three or four years. Hell, he's concerned about the next year. I told him that Disney (further up the L.A. River in Burbank) is stepping up its production schedule, so maybe he can find work with the Mouse.

Then again, if DWA is going to expand its production slate, maybe the guy can stay where he is and get more years as a DreamWorker under his belt.

(I think the company will be cutting production costs and squeezing production schedules, but they're going to need artists and technicians to get all those movies ready for release dates. The work won't all go to Redwood City and Bangalore, will it? DreamWorks might soon have the same roller coaster production schedule that Walt Disney Animation Studios does: packed to the rafters during deadline crunches, then half-empty during early development.)