Chasing After Socialism

There are many who think Socialism is a horrid thing. Happily, movie conglomerates are not among them.

The B.C. government is working on ways to hold onto movie, TV and video game production, as Hollywood shifts work to other provinces and countries that attract them with generous subsidies and tax breaks. ...

The search for Free Money never ends, particularly if you're a hungry motion picture producer. However, some British Columbia officials are growing weary of throwing tax payer cash at movie makers.

... [British Columbia] won't involve [itself in] matching generous tax credits offered by Ontario and Quebec, said Bill Bennett, B.C.'s minister of community, sport and cultural development. ...

The fact that a government person thinks it's a bad idea to match other Canadian provinces' hot lust for socialistic largesse has caused a bit of consternation in B.C.

[There is] a petition sponsored by a group called Save B.C. Film, and its pitch for support underlines the industry’s need for the provincial government’s “enthusiasm for maintaining an attractive taxation scheme.” That is, bigger subsidies. ...

“We need your support,” the petition continues. “Without it, you jeopardize not only our industry standards, but our livelihoods as well ...

Subsidies are a grand old tradition, going back centuries. Transcontinental railroads were once built with them; today sports franchises (plus stadiums!) are supported with taxpayer millions, which the tax payers then get to watch after providing another large fee. (Everybody wins!)

But subsidies are, all too often, a self-defeating exercise. And the exercise is often short-lived and counter-productive. As VFX Soldier notes:

... US studios fall in love with a government that gives them free money. Governments runs out of money. US studios leave for the next sucker. ...

So you might ask why so many state entities pursue this madness? Quite simple. We live in the age of the corporatist nation-state, where the state's principle job is to aid and abet large, globe-straddling conglomerates. And if that damages everything and everybody who ain't a large corporation, well ... that's the price of liberty and "free enterprise" in the 21st century.

Visual effects entrepreneur Scott Ross sees the current reality clearly:

Subsidies are bad. They’re bad for the VFX industry, bad for the govt that is offering the subsidies, bad for the VFX worker that has to constantly uproot their families, bad for the VFX facility which has to chase the subsidy. The only group that these subsidies are good for is the Motion Picture Studio/producer.

Ross, of course, nails it. The conglomerates make out like bandits, which is the point. They're the ones with the juice, so they're the ones governments cater to.

Call it win-lose-lose-lose on the taxpayer dime.
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Disney Video Games

The "Wreck-It Ralph" type environment hasn't been Diz Co.'s strong suit.

... Since industry veteran John Pleasants was named head of Disney’s games business in late 2010, the company has cut hundreds of jobs ...

"The games business for Disney has not been profitable and not met the same level of excellence we have in ABC or our parks or Pixar," Pleasants said in an interview. "If we’re going to be here, we want to make high quality stuff and keep doubling and tripling down.

There have been various runs at the video game brass ring over the years.

Eighteen years ago, Disney had a video game division that TAG was dragged into sideways. The company had a division in Glendale that was cutting jobs like mad. Trouble was, most of the staff had term contracts, and management was bullying employees into taking small, lump sum buyouts.

A dozen staffers contacted us and we strategized with them, helping the group to fight back. We talked most of the artists into pushing for more money, and it worked.

Management doubled their original offer. I guess we had more leverage than we knew. ...

What they owned were contracts with date-certain completion dates. And the House of Mouse wasn't keen on having its employees hire lawyers and go to court, which some were threatening to do. Amazing what a term services agreement can get you when you refuse the first, low-ball offer.

So now it's decade and a half later, and Disney has retrenched yet again. Maybe this time its video games will take flight. Click here to read entire post

One Newer Studio

President Emeritus Tom Sito once pointed out that the only union studio that's still around from the time TAG was founded (1952) is Disney*, and Disney (of course) has morphed into other entities (Disney Toon Studios, Disney Television Animation, Walt Disney Animation Studios, etc.) in the course of its long, long life.

Labor Unions have to keep organizing new companies as they come into existence. Here's one that is doing pretty well.

... Bento Box next month will open its third location in the Burbank area, moving into a 25,000-square-foot facility. Bento also has a studio in Marina del Rey that handles interactive projects, including the one with Keys, and last year opened a studio in Atlanta to take advantage of that state's film tax credit. Bento expects to add 50 to 80 workers to its Los Angeles workforce of 150 by March. The Atlanta studio employs 80. ...

The Animation Guild signed a deal with Bento Box (California edition) in the early days of its existence. We reached out to the company, and instead of going to war, they agreed to negotiate a contract.

(It can be done.)

BB and TAG have had a pretty good relationship over the last few years. It's never totally rainbows and lollipops between a labor union and company, but Bento has execs that we've known for a long time and a lengthy association has been helpful in the marriage. (Like any marriage, there are ups and downs, still ...)

But it's nice to see a smaller studio succeeding in a time when our fine entertainment conglomerates control so much. Diversity is a good thing, especially when there are union contracts in the mix.

* There's also Warner Bros. Animation, but WBA has come ... and gone ... and come back again in the course of TAG's sixty-year run.

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Cash Flow!

Conglomerates adapt to new delivery systems. Sadly, the little silver disk -- with its tall margins -- didn't last forever.

... Starting this spring, a variety of titles from Cartoon Network and Adult Swim will become available to subscribers [on Netflix], while a deal with Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. will bring seasons one and two of TNT's "Dallas" reboot to the streaming service in January 2014. ...

Our fine conglomerates have had to rejigger things as profit geysers they liked (DVDs and BluRay disks) have declined, giving way to delivery systems over the internet. (These mainly have smaller profits, so of course they don't like them much.)

But businesses don't always have big choices in the matter. Technical change happens, and they have to deal with it. Studios didn't like sound films in the 1920s, either. But they adapted. Click here to read entire post

Moving View Master Spirals Down

... as the 3D craze slackens.

... Following weak box office performances for re-releases of "Monsters, Inc.," "Finding Nemo" and "Beauty and the Beast" in 3-D, Walt Disney Studios has canceled plans for a 3-D "The Little Mermaid" in September. ...

"The Lion King" proved a surprise hit in the format, grossing nearly $100 million in the U.S. and Canada. But "The Lion King" turned out to be an anomaly ...

Some pictures have done okay after they got refurbished in three dimensions. Titanic, for instance. But at bottom 3D is a gimmick, which isn't particularly easy on goggled eyes, and the public is gradually tiring of it. The public is also (mostly?) growing weary of inflated ticket prices.

The other problem? If a movie is a witless dud, having objects float off the screen at you won't make it less dud-like. Click here to read entire post

Post-Holiday Holiday Party

The Animation Guild's "not exactly a holiday party" get-together happened again this year at the Autry Western Heritage Museum on Friday last, and most everyone who attended seemed to have a good time. ...

TAG has held holiday parties since forever. In the early days, they happened at the union hall, and if we got thirty people to show up it was considered a wild success.

A couple of decades back, the Guild began hosting the event at the Beverly Garland hotel in North Hollywood, and attendance sky-rocketed. Eventually we outgrew the venue, and moved (again) to the Pickwick Center in Burbank.

The crowds continued to grow, and we moved the festivities twice more: first to The Castaways restaurant high in the Verdugo Mountains (this was a qualified disaster -- nice place for a party but horrible parking) and lastly to the Autry.

Which was a success. Plenty of room inside and more than enough parking (at last!)

Once again the venue was crowded, but the total number of celebrants seemed a touch smaller than last year, probably due to frigid weather. If you attended, we hope you had a good time. If you missed it, there will hopefully be another year where you can make an appearance and mingle with many of the pillars of the animation industry.

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Empire Builders

It's not just Seth McFarlane and Jeffrey Katzenberg.

... Taking after the Gnomes on the animated series who ardently practice American capitalism, Trey Parker and Matt Stone have wooed investors and raised money to form their own production studio, which they plan to announce on Monday.

The new company is to be called Important Studios and hopes to be just that. With an estimated value of $300 million built on revenue from “South Park,” now in its 16th season on Comedy Central, and the Broadway megahit “The Book of Mormon,” the studio will have the power and money to approve television, movie and theater projects, including a big-screen version of “The Book of Mormon.” ...

“We want to have a little control over our life,” [Matt Stone] explained. “We used to walk into a studio and try to become an employee. We’re done with that. We are too grown up for that.” ...

Government regulations at one time required that distributors could not also create their own product. That's why studios like Hanna-Barbera and DePatie-Freleng flourished. They could own their shows, even as NBC and ABC broadcast them. But the regulations restricting "vertical integration" ended years ago, and independent studios making and owning their own television series and theatrical movies pretty much ended with them.

DreamWorks Animation is, of course, one exception to this rule. Mr. Parker and Mr. Stone might end up being another. There are always, despite the stacked decks in our fine, corporatist state, a chosen few with the leverage, clout and money to be Owners rather than Employees. Click here to read entire post

The Globes

You know, the big brass ones.

‘Brave’ was the big winner this year and director Marc Andrews was on hand to accept the award on behalf of Disney-Pixar. He did make sure to thank Brenda Chapman, the original director of the film who was replaced midway through production. ...

So I wonder if Diz Co. will buy Brenda a ticket to the Oscars. Click here to read entire post

Overseas Horse Race

Animation accumulates coin beyond American shores.

... Wreck-It Ralph, Disney’s 3D family animation title, boosted its total foreign take past the $150-million mark ($156.9 million) thanks to a $11.6 million weekend in 59 territories. It has been playing for 11 stanzas on the foreign circuit. Worldwide, the film has grossed $336.3 million. ...

DreamWorks Animation’s Rise of the Guardians grossed $3.9 million at 4,252 venues in 54 markets in its ninth weekend offshore, raising the foreign cume via Paramount to $187.7 million. ..

Guardians has now grossed $98,685,000 stateside, which brings it to a worldwide total of $286,385,000, far below DWA's usual grosses for its features.

DreamWorks Animation's recent batting average has been amazingly high, but even Babe Ruth didn't hit a home run every time he stepped to the plate.

Meanwhile, the animated hybrid Life of Pi has made a worldwide total of $357.4 million. Click here to read entire post

Stock/Bond Indexes

The TAG 401(k) Plan has a lot of index funds in it. There are also a lot of actively managed funds, but the longer I trundle down the Great Highway of Life, the less enamored with pricey-managed funds I become. Here's why.

... Merrill Lynch research show[s] only 39% of fund managers beat the S&P500 last year.

This morning, the WSJ references Goldman Sachs research — it shows something similar. Their data showed 65% of U.S. large-cap stock funds trailed the benchmark index net of fees. (5 year average = 66%).

When they looked for funds that beat the index two consecutive years, they came up with an astounding number: A mere 10% of nearly 2000 U.S. stock funds beat their benchmark in both 2011 and 2012 (Source: Morningstar research).

This is why most people are better off putting money into inexpensive passive index funds. ...

TAG 401(k) trustees have been grappling with under-performing managed stock funds of late. For the past year, they've watched a mid-sized company value fund struggle to match its benchmark index ... and fail.

So two months ago, the trustees finally pulled the trigger and got rid of it. They didn't replace it with another managed fund because none of those were doing particularly well, either. In the end, the trustees mapped participants' investments in mid-cap stocks to the mid-cap index, which has been performing better than most of the more expensive managed mid-cap funds over longer blocks of time.

Index funds are the best way for most investors to go, and the reasons are simple: Few managers beat the market over five and ten-year spans. (It would be great if it were otherwise, but it's not.) A large part of the reason? When you're charging 1.34% for your expertise, but the index you're attempting to beat charges .34%, you've got to beat Mr. Market by 1% year in and year out or you're going to lose.

Most managers lose. The stats tell us so. Click here to read entire post

A Non-Represented Corner of Animation

The game biz didn't have its greatest year.

Sales of video game discs and consoles plummeted 22% last year, as consumers flocked to new digital devices and cut their spending, while publishers released fewer games.

The drop was much sharper than 2011's 9% decline from 2010.

Total spending in the U.S. on physical game products was $13.26 billion, according to NPD Group. The research firm did not estimate the annual total including other avenues for game spending, but did say that used games, rentals and digital formats accounted for about half of total spending in December. ...

TAG has, off and on, made runs at the video game industry.

Several years ago, employees and TAG got together when a unit of animators and tech directors from the west coast studio of Electronic Arts called us up and asked for a meeting, then asked for another meeting. (For some reason they weren't enchanted with working seven days a week, as they were then doing.)

Sadly, the face time never grew into a full-blown organizing drive.

The game industry is like other areas of the animation biz. Managers want product "better, faster, cheaper" as time rolls on. This usually means getting 22-year-olds straight out of college, working them hard and then moving on to the next group of 22-year-olds. And the older, discarded crop of game employees? It often migrates to the organized part of the business: feature and television animation.

It's been this way, more or less, since the now-distant '90s. During that time, the video game industry has grown, then retrenched, then rocketed to big business status. EA, one of the major players, has a rep for eating smaller companies and dominating the market, along with a history of abusing employees. But the game industry is like every other part of entertainment: its reliance on the little silver disks has faltered in recent times as online games (both fee and free) have taken a larger bite of the pie.

Technology can be a bitch when it's working against you instead of for you. Just about every major media/entertainment company has found this out, often to their sorrow. So have the artists and techies working in corporate cubicles. Click here to read entire post

Weekend Box Office

Animation, it is gone from the Top Ten.

1. Zero Dark Thirty (Annapurna/Sony) Week 4 (Runs 2,937) R
Friday $9.0M, Weekend $25.5M, Cume $31.0M

2. A Haunted House (Open Road) NEW [Runs 2,160] R
Friday $6.7M, Weekend $17.5M

3. Gangster Squad (Village Roadshow/Warner Bros) NEW (Runs 3,103) R
Friday $6.6M, Weekend $18.7M

4. Django Unchained (Weinsteiin) Week 3 [Runs 3,012] R
Friday $3.4M, Weekend $11.0M, Cume $125.3M

5. Les Miserables (Working Title/Universal) Week 3 [Runs 2,928] PG13
Friday $2.8M, Weekend $9.5M, Cume $118.6M

6. The Hobbit 3D (MGM/Warner Bros) Week 5 [Runs 3,012] PG13
Friday $2.3M, Weekend $8.0M, Cume $277.0M

7. Lincoln (DreamWorks/Fox/Disney) Week 10 [Runs 2,027] PG13
Friday $1.8M, Weekend $6.3M, Cume $152.6M

8. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D (Lionsgate) Week 2 [Runs 2,659] R
Friday $1.8M (-82%), Weekend $5.5M, Cume $31.6M

7. Parental Guidance (Fox) Week 3 [Runs 2,957] PG
Friday $1.7M, Weekend $5.8M, Cume $60.4M

10. Jack Reacher (Skydance/Paramount) Week 4 [Runs 2,707] PG13
Friday $1.5M, Weekend $5.0M, Cume $72.8M ...

Monsters, Inc. 3D has slowed way down with a cume that now totals $29,165,000. Rise of the Guardians (with its screenplay here) remains a couple of million below the $100 million marker, but should reach trip digits before its domestic run ends. Click here to read entire post

Fox Re-Up

The man who helped bring DreamWorks Animation into the Murdoch empire signs a new deal.

Fox Filmed Entertainment chairman Jim Gianopulos is closing in on a new long-term contract at the News Corp.-owned studio ...

He has been instrumental in recent deals to bring Jeffrey Katzenberg's DreamWorks Animation films to Fox and to greenlight two Avatar sequels from filmmaker James Cameron. ...

If the Fox-DWA distribution deal works out. I wouldn't faint dead away in surprise if Fox ultimately purchases the studio.

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At Cartoon Network

The old first floor interior -- now history.

Cartoon Network's Burbank Studio has a whole new interior. Every floor has been redecorated, and lots of the floor space owns new configurations.

The first floor now resembles a large, classy living room, with a billiard table, new couches and lots of glass and stone. (I should have taken a picture of it ... oh well. At least there's the older version, seen above.)

Upstairs, there are new stairways, new floor coverings, and lots of new paint. But why the hell not? The CN has been on a roll ...

hAcross the first week of January 2013, Cartoon Network ranked as television’s #1 network for Total Day delivery of boys 6-11, & 9-14, and #1 in Early Prime (7-9 p.m.) delivery of boys 9-14. Scoring double-digit delivery gains compared the same week in 2012, Total Day delivery of kids 2-11 grew by 20%, kids 6-11 by 33% and kids 9-14 by 33%.

Ranking #1 for boys 6-11 & 9-14 vs. all other networks on Monday, Thursday and Friday Night (7-9 p.m.), Cartoon Network’s Friday night programming line-up grew target kids/boys demos by double digits across the board, ranging between 19% and 96% vs. the same week last year.

Saturday Morning (7-11 a.m.) animated action-adventure programming was up double digits across all key kids and boys vs. last year, ranging between 12% and 36%. Premiere episodes of original series Ben 10: Omniverse (9 a.m.), Star Wars: The Clone Wars (9:30 a.m.), Green Lantern (10 a.m.) and Young Justice: Invasion (10:30 a.m.) grew by double and triple digits across kids/boys 2-11, 6-11 & 9-14, ranging between 33% and 119%. ...

The net has a bunch of new shows coming into the rotation. Talking to staffers, they include the following:

Uncle Grandpa
Steven's Universe
Clarence

With several new pilots also in development. (If I've missed something, somebody can chime in below.) Shows with orders for new episodes include Ben 10, Regular Show and Adventure Time.

The place is cooking.


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Sofia Uno ... and Other TVA Projects

Today I bopped around Disney TVA (Empire Center) where this show is in production.

... [T]he high ratings that Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess got back in November (This new TV movie wound up being the No. 1 cable telecast of all time among Kids 2-5. Not to mention being No. 1 preschool cable TV telecast among Women 18-49), it's looking increasingly likely that "First" is going to be the type of show that lasts. ...

And given that The Walt Disney Company has so heavily merchandised the other Disney Princesses, would it really surprise you to learn -- earlier this week -- the Disney Store debuted its Sofia the First product line? ...

Princess Sofia was in development a long time. I remember when it was in script and production board phase in Glendale. The project was in the process of becoming for what seemed like forever. The crew working on it now is talented, tight-knit ... and happy the tv movie broke records when it aired last Fall.

But like most television projects, staffing and scheduling for Sofia are tight, so artists work like demons to hit deadlines. As one said today:

I don't get out for long lunches, I can tell you. The show's demanding. There are music sequences, action sequences. And the environments are complex. ...

As noted elsewhere, the new series The 7D is up and rolling out of the station:

Disney Television Animation started production on its new animated series, The 7D; a comedy version of the Seven Dwarfs, this time, set in a modern-day fairytale land, aimed at kids between 2 and 7 years of age.

The series' debut is expected to take place in 2014 through Disney Junior across the world. The announcement was made by Nancy Kanter, SVP original programming and GM at Disney Junior Worldwide.

The 7D's executive producer is Emmy-winner Tom Ruegger (Animaniacs). Alfred Gimeno (Tiny Toon Adventures) is in charge of directing and Sherri Stoner (Pinky and the Brain) is story editor. In addition, the characters are designed by Noah Z. Jones (Pecezuelos).

Early episodes are testing well and management is happy with the direction of the series. Walking through the unit. I noted a lot of talent from WB Animation on board. This seems natural, given Tom R.'s long tenure at Warners. Click here to read entire post

Your Nominations!

No doubt everyone and his auntie and uncle are already out and up with these. Nevertheless ...

Best animated feature film of the year
•“Brave” Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman
•“Frankenweenie” Tim Burton
•“ParaNorman” Sam Fell and Chris Butler
•“The Pirates! Band of Misfits” Peter Lord
•“Wreck-It Ralph” Rich Moore


Best animated short film
•“Adam and Dog” Minkyu Lee
•“Fresh Guacamole” PES
•“Head over Heels” Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly
•“Maggie Simpson in “The Longest Daycare” David Silverman
•“Paperman” John Kahrs

No big surprises here, except that DramWorks Animation didn't get a nomination.

The Academy wanted to spread the kudos around ... to our fine entertainment conglomerates and smaller studios alike. Click here to read entire post

Blue Umbrella

... meet ...

Johnny Fedora ....



... where everything old is new again!

The six-minute film, directed by Pixar technical artist Saschka Unseld, is about a blue umbrella who falls for a red umbrella and weathers a storm while following that crush. The clip reveals a photorealistic style and a gorgeous, rain-inspired soundtrack ...

Which is different, you know, from a cartoon style circa 1954 1946.
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That's Opera, Mick

Operat librettos can be created from many things.

A British-designed and directed opera about Walt Disney which premieres in Spain this month before coming to London has been forced to tell the great cartoonist's story without any of the images of the characters that made him a household name. ...

The Perfect American, the latest work by the acclaimed composer Philip Glass, concentrates on the last years of Disney's life, when he lay dying of lung cancer while planning to have his body frozen. It portrays Disney as a megalomaniac with McCarthyite, racist and misogynist tendencies, so it is clear why the global entertainment corporation has denied rights. Yet, ironically, the most damaging charge the new opera levels at a man whose vision continues to dominate children's culture is probably the claim that he did little actual work on the drawings

All of us have light and dark qualities. Mr. Disney undoubtedly had a combination of both, just like ... everybody else.

This work is (apparently) going in the "Disney Version" direction. "Walt was a toad" seems to be the theme. Revisionist history certainly has its place, but I'm not sure this will revise our rememberance of the past to many people's satisfaction. Click here to read entire post

Boosting DWA

DreamWorks Animation's current release is not doing robust business. But Seeking Alpha believes its future is bright.

Don't Bet Aginst DreamWorks Animation

... If we look at the top 20 CG animated films ranked by domestic gross revenue, we see that DreamWorks makes up almost half that list.

The main problem that I have is with the company's limited release schedule, a box-office flop could significantly impair annual earnings and cash flows. ...

DWA has created some of the most commercial animated features in the business. One blockbuster after another ... with the occasional non-blockbuster.

The company has always kept me on the edge of my seat because it has long performed a circus high-wire act: Employing a lot of people, and doing it with lots of high-grossing features.

But a couple of misses, and DreamWorks is hanging from that high wire by its pinky. Sweaty palms time, wouldn't you say? Click here to read entire post

Foxy Animation

Hey, better one t.v. network interested in animation than none at all.

Fox will launch Animation Domination High-Def, a late-night offshoot of its Sunday night Animation Domination comedy block, on July 27, the network said. ...

During a panel on the new animation block on Tuesday, Animation Domination High-Def head Nick Weidenfeld, formerly the head of development for the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, said that the block will provide a forum for "experimental and more interesting forms of animation." He also noted that it's possible that some of the projects could end up transitioning to the network's primetime Animation Domination block. ...

And we, of course, hope that much of this work will benefit from union representation. But hey. Whether it is or not, it's good that Fox is adding more animation to their entertainment mix.

Now let's see ABC, NBC, CBS and various cable networks step up to the plate. There's talent aplenty out there, and it needs more platforms on which to strut its stuff. Click here to read entire post

Cut to the Bone

... and beyond.

... Walt Disney Co. started an internal cost-cutting review several weeks ago that may include layoffs at its studio and other units ...

Cuts are most likely at the studio, said two of the three sources, where the strategy has changed to focus on fewer films and rely more on outside producers such as Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks studio, which finances its own films and pays Disney a fee to market and distribute them.

It is also looking at redundant operations that could be eliminated following a string of major acquisitions over the past few years, said one of the sources. ...

I don't think that there will be big cuts (if any) at Disney's animation units, but you never know. (We'll dredge up Disney animation employment stats for the last three years tomorrow, and see if my thoughts are in line with reality.)

Earnings growth has stalled out at a lot of our fine, American companies. Over the past four years, corporate America has been able to goose profit margins by slashing payrolls and containing other costs, but those efforts are no longer bearing a great deal of fruit.

So, absent more expansion on the demand side (you know, more jobs and more money in the pockets of working stiffs?), we might be seeing more austerity on the private side of the economy.

(Walt Disney Animation Studios did have several rounds of layoffs a few years ago. When I told a reporter from Bloomberg about the downsizing and he wrote about it, management did not look on me and my big yap favorably.

Oh well ...)
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Brain Trust

(Now with major media Add On ...)

... by another name.

Warner Bros. doesn't want rivals like Walt Disney Studios and 20th Century Fox to have a stranglehold on the lucrative animation market.

But the studio is trying a different approach in an effort to bolster its animated efforts. Instead of unveiling a new division, it's announcing an animation creative consortium, featuring the likes of John Requa and Glenn Ficarra (“Crazy, Stupid, Love.,” “Cats & Dogs”) and Nicholas Stoller (“The Muppets”) that will help it develop its family offerings. Also on the team will be Phil Lord and Chris Miller (“Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs”) and Jared Stern (“Mr. Popper’s Penguins”). ...

It's really fairly simple.

When you have a number of creative types who seem to know what they're doing, you put them together and let them brainstorm. Create. Cross pollinate.

John Lasseter figured it out a while ago; the Pixar "brain trust" has been operating for years.

What's usually death to these things is: people spin off into their own orbits (i.e., go to other companies), too many large egos get in the way, and the suits stick their noses in and try to grab credit (even while lousing things up.)

But it's a fine idea. Now, if they can only get some (as they say) synergy going and insure that one party doesn't big foot another party, Warners will be cooking with gas.

Add On: From the L.A. Times:

Committing to the genre after years of fits and starts, Warner Bros. on Monday said it will produce one animated movie per year beginning in 2014.

Every other major studio in Hollywood has established an animation strategy in the past few years, with some such as 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures and Walt Disney Studios making the movies in-house and others like Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures relying on outside companies with which it makes deals. ...

Warner Bros., of course, DID have an animation strategy.

In the 1990s.

In television, they were partnered with Mr. Spielberg and had great success with a string of high-quality t.v. cartoons: Tiny Toons, Pink and the Brain, Animaniacs and others.

In features, Warners opened two studios on Brand Boulevard, over in sunny Glendale. Turner Feature Animation (a Time-Warner company formed by Ted) produced Cats Don't Dance. Down the boulevard in a high-rise bank building, Warner Bros. Feature Animation created Quest for Camelot, animation for the hybrid Space Jam, The Iron Giant and Osmosis Jones.

Sadly, the new Time-Warner animation divisions did not meet with the box office victories the conglomerate was looking for, and both were shuttered So now the corporation is taking a run at the feature animation business from a different direction. We wish them well.



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Overseas B.O. in January

Computer-generated animation cocooned inside live action dominates this week's box office in foreign lands.

Ang Lee's top-grossing film Life of Pi has jumped the $300 million mark at the international box office for a worldwide total of $393 million through Sunday. ...

Much of the animated effects work (the tiger was animated) was done in Southern California. ...

And other box office collections?

The Hobbit took in $57.1 million from 65 markets for an international cume of $561 million and worldwide total of $824.8 million. ...

Wreck-It Ralph boosted its total foreign take well past the $100 million mark ($132.7 million) thanks to a $19.5 million weekend in 56 territories. It has been playing for 10 stanzas on the foreign circuit. Worldwide, the film has grossed $311.2 million. ...

Meantime, Rise of the Guardians has a global accumulation of $278,502,000 ($32.7 million behind Ralph as it wends its way to $300 million. (Domestically, it's dropped from the Top Ten, landing at #17 after seven weeks in release. The Christmas holidays appear to be over.)

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Animation Subset

Twenty years ago, when hand-drawn animation was skyrocketing at the box office, hand-drawn cels were a nice little niche market where tidy sums could be made. Then it crashed and burned. But now?

... [T]he market for animation art keeps bouncing back.

Since animation studios sold a glut of reprints in the mid-1990s, prices for hand-drawn animation cels—celluloid squares inked with characters—have been weak. Lately, however, the market has strengthened, spurring more sales by auction houses this winter.

"The market was dormant for so long, so now people are coming out of the woodwork with great collections," says Joseph Maddalena, president of Profiles in History auction house in Calabasas, Calif., which began holding auctions of animation art two years ago. ...

Theatrical hand-drawn animation has been left for dead, but not the production pieces that are again collectibles.

Funny thing, but the things that upended the market two decades ago were the studio factories that cranked out hand-painted cels to meet the (then) insatiable demand.

And TAG represented some of the work.

Disney had a stripped-down cel-paintg department on its main lot, in the same rooms where production work had taken place years before, cranking out sets of "Snow White" cels, "Sleeping Beauty" set-ups, and "Beauty and the Beast" collectibles (among others.) (And "B and B" never had production cels to start with. When made, the picture had been painted digitally.)

The flood of freshly-created cels ultimately tanked demand, and prices plummeted. And the union-repped department of cel painters was disbanded. I could see the down-sizing coming, but I was still sorry when it happened. Click here to read entire post

January Box Office Derby

Wherein older animation titles are declining, even as they're made ready for digital downloads and little silver disks.

Monsters, Inc. 3D -- $25.1 million
Rise of the Guardians -- $95.4 million
Wreck-It Ralph -- $177.7 million

Wreck-It is the most recent animation release that's scored big domestically. Guardians will float over the $100 million road marker in the next week, and DWA's next big release -- The Croods -- rolls out in a few months.

Then, of course, there are the home video releases:

Disney is the latest studio to jump on the emerging trend of releasing a key title in Digital HD before becoming available on disc and on-demand. Wreck-It-Ralph, which has made $175.5 million domestically and $275M-plus globally to date, will get that treatment February 12, while its Blu-ray, DVD and VOD offerings will come available March 5. ...

In 2013, there are many technology and money waves to ride when squeezing the full potential out of your movie. Our fine entertainment conglomerates don't like to leave any stones unturned. ... Click here to read entire post

Lucas on Handing Off to Disney

Rolling Stone has put up these older interview videos:

Lucas said he sold the franchise to help insure its longevity. "I'm doing this so that the films will have a longer life, so that more fans and people can enjoy them in the future," he said. "It's a very big universe I've created and there's a lot of stories in there." ...

Way back in 1977, I encountered Mr. Lucas in a funny way.

I was working with Disney veteran Ken Anderson on a river delta opus titled "Catfish Bend" (about which more later). We were in Ken's large second floor office, and a third party (I don't remember who) came in and mentioned that George Lucas was in the Disney Animation Building getting shown around.

I was in my mid-twenties then, and a "Star Wars" geek, having seen the picture with other young Disney employees a few months before, on the day the picture came out. Ken Anderson, however, was not as awed or star-struck as I was. In fact, he was downright hostile about the movie, grumbling about what an over-rated piece of crap it was, how he didn't like it in the least, and blah-de blah blah.

At which point George Lucas walked in, accompanied by a studio publicist. Ken's face went through several contortions ending in a wide grin, and he instantly reversed course, gushing over Mr. Lucas and showing him the storyboards hanging from the wall.

I have no idea if George Lucas overheard any of Ken's rant as he walked in. I suspect not, because he was polite, and listened attentively as Ken described his boards. After a few minutes he left with his Disney escorts, and we went on with whatever it is we'd been doing. I remember Mr. Lucas as being young, quiet, and slender. And even then having some gray in his beard.

Ken never said anything more about not liking "Star Wars." Click here to read entire post

Around the (Ever-Changing) Studios

So now that the holidays are over, I am back schlepping through the various halls of various fun factories ...

Today at the Hat Building, the lighting department was cranking up for a concentrated production schedule on Frozen:

We worked on a test sequence to see how the characters will look, how the environment [lots of snow!] looks. It's coming right along. The picture gets released in November, so we'll be busy. ...

Another staffer said the studio is doing the project with a relatively lean crew; the staffer also thinks that more hires will be made later in the year to meet the full-steam-ahead production schedule.

Upstairs, a story artist told me the next picture to go into production after Frozen has been decided on but not yet announced, so I (of course) will keep my yap shut. (Hint: It's one of the films now in development.)

And maybe I'm out of the loop, but the thingie that was total news to me?

The company will be gutting the whole inside of the Hat building, changing where people enter, blowing out all the offices and making the floor space way more usable.

People are going to come in through the Sorcerer's hat and enter a big space on the second floor. The story rooms -- which I think are too big -- will be shrunk. The offices and hallways will be reconfigured.

I like the idea that we'll be in the same building, but the space will be complately changed around ...

I didn't know the revamp was taking place, but (if true) it's an excellent event to have happen. Because the interior of the HB as it now exists is ... how do I put this delicately? ...

Shitty.

I'll give you a few choice examples: The lobby is small and down a long, dim hall far away from the front doors. The lobby and curved entrance desk are part of a circular, high-ceilinged space with acres of window glass that enables whoever gets to man said desk to bake in the midday sun.

Actually, that was the reality in the old, early days. But that meant dehydration and permanent sunburn for any Disney employee sitting for hours back of the desk. Solution? They put up a big umbrella so the people out there could live to a ripe old age without getting melanoma.

It was ludicrous.

So ludicrous, in fact, that feature director John Musker drew a gag cartoon depicting the front desk (under the umbrella) as the reception area to an "Islands" restaurant, showing the guards and receptionist beneath the canvas in bright Hawaiian shirts. (This was way before John Lasseter took over.)

The umbrella was eventually replaced by a big metal sun guard that looked like a space ship from Fry's Electronics. More ludicrousness.

Hallways weren't (aren't) intelligently laid out. You march down a passageway and the aisle comes to an an abrupt end, or veers off in another direction. Offices are small and chopped up. Large areas have little natural light. The place would make a dandy maze for rodents, but it's not the greatest workspace for human beings.

(Another added treat: There are three main floors. If one floor is heated or cooled at a comfortable temperature, the other two floors are either too hot or too cold. In winter, staffers use free-standing floor heaters in various locations.)

So my reaction to Diz Co. tearing up the existing floor plan and starting over?

About. Freaking. Time.

& & & & & & &

Meanwhile, over at DreamWorks Animation, I'm told by the story crew of Sherman and Peabody, who have just recently seen all the story reels, that the continuity is in good shape, with two acts pretty well locked and one act getting some revisions.
Click here to read entire post

Corporate Marriage

Between Disney and DreamWorks Animation! (In a manner of speaking.)

"Star Wars" creator George Lucas is engaged is engaged to 43-year-old investment firm president Mellody Hobson. ... Hobson serves as chairwoman of DreamWorks Animation ...

So okay. It's not exactly a corporate merger. More like a personal co-mingling of high-placed execs, and one of them maybe isn't really so high-placed anymore.

More like semi-retired. And really, really rich.

But I think it speaks volumes about who bigwigs associate with and fall in love with: Other bigwigs.

Which goes a long way in explaining why Mr. Lucas has become engaged to Ms. Hobson. It's the natural and right thing to do in this best of all possible worlds. Click here to read entire post

A Fine, Entertainment Conglomerate

... sees the light (or maybe the Jaws of Death.) In any event, WB ponies up.

Warner Bros. has settled a big part of a significant lawsuit that alleged the creators and executive producers of Smallville were cheated out of tens of millions of dollars through sweetheart license-fee deals that the studio made with its sister TV networks.

The Tollin/Robbins lawsuit from Smallville showrunners Mike Tollin and Brian Robbins seeking more than $100 million in damages was filed in March 2010, about a year before the long-running show about Superman's earthly upbringing ended after 10 lucrative seasons on the air.

The case touched upon a sensitive issue in Hollywood: so-called "vertical integration." The producers contended they were deprived of significant profits when WBTV allegedly undersold the series to affiliates the WB Network and then The CW instead of licensing the series to outside companies.

In August, a judge put the case on the path to a June trial.

... Judge Michael Johnson said there was enough in the pleadings to send it to a jury. In his ruling, he said the plaintiffs had demonstrated triable issues as to whether WBTV complied with obligations to conduct negotiations at various divisions in-house at arms-length and whether the producers' contracts included profit definitions that necessitated that money be collected at "fair market rates consistent with licenses granted by Warner to non-affiliates."

So apparently, the company was taking a bigger chunk of the swag than the showrunners were happy with. Also apparently, a court found the two had some compelling law and documents on their side, and Warners was sufficiently concerned that it -- as the court date came closer -- settled up with Mr. Tolling and Mr. Robbins.

(That "leverage" thingie again. But better a "sizable settlement" than a big jury award with monetary damages, I always say.)

Creators have few moral rights in The Land of the Free. That's for those Brie-eating Europeans, don't you know. Over here, it's "work for hire," first last and always. It's the rare creator who fights ... and wins ... against a corporate giant.

Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster are likely twirling in their graves. With happiness. Click here to read entire post

Write Off

Wish it were otherwise.

Barton Crockett of Lazard Capital Markets now forecasts that DreamWorks Animation will report a 44 cents-per-share loss for Q4, down from his previous prediction of a 6 cent loss. Crockett says that Rise Of The Guardians likely will end up generating $110M at domestic box offices and $210M overseas vs. his previous forecast for $130M and $276M, respectively. ...

By the end of its domestic run, Guardians will have returned something around 4.3 times its opening weekend gross.

Trouble is, the opening weekend gross was tepid. Whether this was because audiences didn't respond to the subject matter and/or story, or because it was just a bad weekend to open, I know not. (I tend to think the latter, only because if word of mouth had been bad, the picture would have grossed about 3 times its opening weekend numbers over the length of its run.)

The next picture that goes into release is Chris Sanders' The Croods. In a few months time, we'll get to see how it performs. Click here to read entire post

Monster Teaser

The drum-beating never really ends. It's the life-blood of our fine entertainment conglomerates.



Monsters, Inc., moving view master edition has not been a barn-burner during the current holiday season, but it's up 35% over the long holiday weekend, rising from #9 on your hit parade to #7.

It's might not be a gargantuan reissue, bit I'll wager that it sets up Monster University's oncoming release quite nicely. (An eighty-five minute trailer, if you will.) Click here to read entire post

The Eternal Yellow Family

The Simpsons continues to flourish. In the most recent ratings, the show was not just the top animated half-hour on Fox's animation domination, it was the top candidate by a lot.

The Simpsons -- 6.61 million viewers

Which put it ahead of Harry Potter on ABC.

Believe it or not, Simpsons numbers were close to double those of Bob's Burgers, American Dad and Family Guy. ...

In the recent past I've asked directors and board artists working on The Simpsons how much longer new episodes will be getting produced.

Nobody is sure.

What is sure: Fox has another season of The Simpsons that they can pick up (though they haven't done it yet) with lower pay rates that they negotiated with the voice actors a couple of years ago.

And it isn't just actors. As a staffer told me:

The show directors have taken pay reductions in the last few years. Fox isn't just hammering down the pay of actors. Production schedules have been shortened and people are on layoff longer. My gut feeling is, they will keep the shows on the air as long as the costs stay in check. ...

I've told more than one Simpson artist that I think that odds are good the show will be on three or four more years. Fox has made a fortune from The Yellow Family, and if episodes continue to be the robust Sunday night performers that they've been in the current season, I don't see how News Corp. can pull the plug.

Rupert and his minions don't walk away when there's still money on the table.

Click here to read entire post

The last day of Ralph Hulett's Christmas

A character card, with the oft-used butler. (See others here and here.)

See other Ralph Hulett Christmas cards on the TAG Blog

Click here to read entire post

Year in Review

Tired TAG contract negotiators early on a June morning ...

The year 2012 is now in the history books. On the macro side, the Unites States economy got better in slow, tiny steps:

GDP Growth

1st Quarter -- 4.1% growth
2nd Quarter -- 2% growth
3rd Quarter -- 1.3% growth (yeowch!)
4th Quarter -- 3.1% growth

The above isn't (let's be honest here) particularly good by historical standards, but not bad when compared to the rest of the industrialized world ... and enough to return the incumbent President to office.

On the micro side (this union) -- we saw employment growth through most of the year, peaking at 2,770 employed TAG members before DreamWorks began laying off employees late in '12 ...

Until the 4th quarter, unionized animation employment had been on a steady, upward trajectory. Theatrical animation was (mostly) strong, and television animation enjoyed solid ratings. Our fine, entertainment conglomerates wanted to make more of both, and the Animation Guild prospered as a result. And unlike live-action, animation is somewhat more difficult to outsource to other localities, particularly pre-production work. Which is good for Animation Guild members.

But the BIG story for the Guild, far and away, was the negotiations for a new contract. In mid April, an energetic and focused negotiating committee -- composed of executive board members, staff, working members of the guild and Yours Truly -- went into talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and pretty quickly got ice water thrown in its face:

On April 19, after two days of negotiations for a new contract with the major studios, your negotiating team (made up of regular members just like you) felt compelled to walk out.

The studios were not willing to consider most of our proposals, and we were far apart on wage issues.

Animated features and television series are the engine that drives the Hollywood gravy train, yet our workplace and salary concerns were mostly ignored.

TAG's Executive Board has voted to hold a special membership meeting on Wednesday, May 30, to discuss the contract negotiations. It is imperative that we have a full turnout to receive your input regarding our next moves in the battle for a fair contract.

In the meantime, we urge you to discuss these issues with your fellow members. Your livelihood, and that of your fellow workers in animation, is at stake. We have been disrespected for far too long. Do you want our Union to stand up for itself? Then YOU need to stand up for your Union. Attend the special meeting.

The special membership meeting will be held Wednesday, May 30, at the Guild's offices at 1105 N. Hollywood Way in Burbank. A reception starts at 6 PM with beer, wine, and refreshments, followed by the meeting at 7 PM. ...

Long story short: We got the BIGGEST member turnout for a meeting in the time I've been doing this job. We explained how the producers were coming after us hammer and tong with a low-ball wage offer, how they had rejected almost everything we put on the table and pretty much sneered in our faces. And left us with no options other than to hot-foot it out of there.

The membership was incredibly supportive. They provided input on where they wanted us to go in future talks (WAGES), and answered en masse a digital survey that we put out before returning to the table.

Then in mid-June, we finally DID return to bargaining:

We restarted the Animation Guild-AMPTP negotiations early yesterday, and stayed into the early hours of today to finish the new contract deal. There was planning and waiting and too much eating in the caucus room. There were small side bars*. There were larger side bars. And there were negotiations and a final agreement across the table in the the Big Room ...

From TAG's press release:

The Animation Guild, Local 839 IATSE has reached tentative agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement. The labor contract, for a period from August 1, 2012 to July 31, 2015, was negotiated with animation producers represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

The contract calls for two percent (2%) annual compounded wage increases. Health, pension and IAP benefits are to be provided under the terms of the IATSE Basic Agreement, on which agreement was reached in April and which is currently awaiting a ratification vote. Other provisions of the new agreement include a new storyboard revisionist classification, and changes to the talent development program and the DreamWorks Animation wage minimums.

We were in talks until 1:00 this morning. We ended up, at the finish line, with the same economic package that the Basic Agreement bargaining unit reached in April. It was not easy. The producers made clear that we weren't necessarily going to be recipients of the deal bestowed on the IA locals inside the bargining unit, and we had to argue, push and horse trade for everything we finally got.

As you can see up above, we had a sizable committee, and everybody contributed. But I would like to offer a heartfelt "thank you" to Mike Miller, IATSE International Vice President, Vice President In-Charge of the West Coast Office and Director of the Motion Picture and Television Division. Mike was in there pitching from morning to night, and really helped drive the wagon to our final result.

* "Side bars" are off-the-record discussions that take place in hallways and small rooms without windows. Sometimes they're long and other times short. Sometimes you make progress toward a contract in them, but not always.

So that sums up the year 2012: Negotiations were the top Big Deal; continuing employment was the next big deal. Then, of course, there were all the other things: National and state elections, the continued sputtering growth of the world and national economy, the push for "right to work" in various mid-Western states.

It was an interesting twelve months in the Chinese sense of the word. We kind of expect that the next twelve will have their own highlights and lowlights.

Happy New Year.
Click here to read entire post

Ralph Hulett's New Year's Eve

Don't think that's fireworks through the trees, but who knows?

See other Ralph Hulett Christmas cards on the TAG Blog

Click here to read entire post

Investing

Here, it applies to retirement investing, but Barry Ritholtz's advice is good for all seasons:

Investing Rules

1. Cut your losers short, and let your winners run.
2. Avoid predictions and forecasts
3. Understand crowd behavior.
4. Think like a contrarian (but don’t always act like a contrarian).
5. Asset allocation is crucial.
6. Decide if you are an active or passive investor.
7. Understand your own psychological make up.
8. Admit when you are wrong.
9. Understand the cycles of the financial world.
10. Be intellectually curious.
11. Reduce investing friction.
12. There is no free lunch.

Because it's part of the job description, I get a lot of questions about "Where to put retirement/401(k) money?"

As stated before, nobody is great about foreseeing where bond or stock markets will go. The vast majority of actively managed funds do worse than the indexes they're following. The things individual investors can control is their costs and their asset allocations. Everything else is in the hands of Fate.

The only two points above that I disagree with are number one (which doesn't apply if you are investing in broad index funds) and number six. (You can use a mix of active and index funds, therefore NOT deciding.)

The only way I've been effective at building a stash to retire with is

1) lowering my investment costs,
2) living below my means (so I had something left to save), and
3) having a broadly diversified portfolio.

The (almost) last bit of advice with which I leave you: Acquire some investing knowledge, because the more you know, the more effectively you will invest your money. To that end, I give you a (partial) list of gurus.

Larry Swedroe

William J. Bernstein

John Bogle

David Swensen

Final bit: Next week is the last week to get into the Animation Guild 401(k) Plan during the month of January. After Friday the 4th of January, the next deadline will be February 1st, which will leave you with only 11 months in the year to max out a 401(k) in 2013.
Click here to read entire post

Overseas B.O. -- Year-end Grosses

Where animation is still a driver.

... Fox's top title by far was the computer-animation Ice Age Continental Drift, which scored an amazing $718.1 million on foreign box office. ... Disney/Marvel’s The Avengers tallied a huge $892.4 million in overseas earnings. ...

Paramount's top earner this time was DreamWorks’ Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, which collected $525.5 million offshore. ... DreamWorks' Rise of the Guardians collected $11.6 million in its seventh round overseas and lifted its foreign gross to $165.2 million.

Life of Pi continues strongly on the foreign circuit, drawing $39.2 million ..., raising director Ang Lee’s film to a cume of $220 million ...

Some current worldwide totals:

World Grosses
Wreck-It Ralph -- $275,855,000
Rise of the Guardians -- $255,430,000
Life of Pi -- $303,838,000
Hotel Transylvnia -- $311,023,000

The Ang Lee movie is outpacing Guardians overseas, while staying slightly behind it domestically. I expect that Rise of the Guardians will end up in Hotel Transylvania territory, a bit north of $300 million. Click here to read entire post

Ralph Hulett's Christmas, day 21

Doves and a radiant sun. Joy to the world.

See other Ralph Hulett Christmas cards on the TAG Blog

Click here to read entire post

Who's the Successor?

Speculation time.

[Disney's Robert Iger] is set to retire in 2015, and we're all waiting for a proper succession order. This will be big news ...

The choice here can move markets in the short term and mouse-shaped mountains in the long run. Obvious candidates for the CEO post include longtime right-hand man Tom Staggs, Pixar genius John Lasseter, and Marvel Entertainment chief Isaac Perlmutter. The recent acquisition of Lucasfilm also gives Hollywood legend Kathleen Kennedy an outside shot at the top Disney job, given her status as president of the Star Wars empire. Any of these would be excellent choices, and I wouldn't bet on Iger reaching for outside talent ...

My guess is it will be a safe, middle-of-the-road pick from inside Diz Co.'s corporate ranks. Somebody who wears an administrative hat, rather than a creative one.

Because that's the way our fine entertainment conglomerates roll. Click here to read entire post

Your Weekend Box Office

Rise of the Guardians moves toward the $100 million plateau, even as it drops to the bottom rung of the Top Ten.

1. The Hobbit (MGM/Wwarner Bros) Week 3 [Runs 4,100] PG13
Friday $10.7M, Est Weekend $32.9M, Est Cume $222.7M

2. Django Unchained (Sony/Weinstein) Week 1 [Runs 3,010] R
Friday $9.6M, Est Weekend $28.4M, Est Cume $61.8M

3. Les Misérables (Working Title/Universal) Week 1 [Runs 2,814] PG13
Friday $9.4M, Est Weekend $28.6M, Est Cume $68.0M

4. Parental Guidance (Walden/Fox) Week 1 [Runs 3,367] PG
Friday $5.0M, Est Weekend $15.3M, Est Cume $30.1M

5. Jack Reacher (Skydance/Paramount) Week 2 [Runs 3,352] PG13
Friday $4.5M, Est Weekend $13.2M, Est Cume $43.8M

6. This Is 40 (Universal) Week 2 [Runs 2,914] R
Friday $4.1M, Est Weekend $12.7M, Est Cume $36.7M

7. Lincoln (DreamWorks/Fox/Disney) Week 8 [Runs 1,966] PG13
Friday $2.3M, Est Weekend $7.5M, Est Cume $129.9M

8. Monsters Inc 3D (Pixar/Disney) Week 2 [Runs 2,618] G
Friday $2.2M, Est Weekend $6.5M, Est Cume $16.7M

9. The Guilt Trip (Skydance/Paramount) Week 2 [Runs 2,431] PG13
Friday $2.0M, Est Weekend $6.7M, Est Cume $21.1M

10. Rise Of The Guardians (DWA/Par) Week 5 [Runs 3,031]
Friday $1.7M, Est Weekend $5.3M, Est Cume $90.6M ...

And Monsters, Inc. 3D is (apparently) not going to be raking in the long green like Lion King 3D .

Meantime, BO Mojo has a dandy comparison chart between Guardians and Life of Pi. One is live action, of course, but there's a host of similarities between them.

Life of Pi -- gross: $82.1 million
Rise of the Guardians -- gross: $87.3 million

Both were released on the same date. Both have lots of cg animation (the tiger is almost totally computer generated.) Both cost north of $120 million.

But Pi is considered a more resounding success than Guardians. This goes to what we'll call "common Hollywood wisdom:" Life of Pi is performing well compared to other Ang Lee pictures; Rise of the Guardians is performing weakly compared to other DreamWorks Animation features.

None of this is wrong exactly, but I've noticed that when the media gets a storyline in its teeth, it seldom alters it.

For instance, there was much beating of tom toms about how Kung Fu Panda 2 wasn't doing as well as the original. I heard this over and over again, "Oooh, the new 'Kung Fu Panda'? Kind of a disappointment." Yet when all the receipts were in, KFP 2 collected more dollars than its predecessor.

It's always good to do independent research and draw your own conclusions.

Click here to read entire post

Ralph Hulett's Christmas, day 20

Deer, dark tree trunks, and French vanilla snow.

See other Ralph Hulett Christmas cards on the TAG Blog

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No Remake

... of the John, Paul, George and Ringo project.

[Yellow Submarine] would have been a great one to bring the Beatles back to life. But it’s probably better not to be remade – you’re always behind the 8-ball when do you a remake. It gets harder and harder [to make movies]. With the current state of the industry, it’s difficult to stay passionate about it. The hardest thing for a filmmaker as he’s aging is saying, “How much more of this crap can I take?” It’s tough, I can only do it if I have a script to believe in. Like Flight”.
...

I could never figure out the reason to redo this particular animated feature in the first place. Mr. Zemeckis was going to, what? Make this baby in audience-pleasing mocap? With "almost real" motion capture recreations of the Fab Four?

Eeeewwww. How many people would that creep out?

Probably not many, because I can't imagine that crowds of movie-goers would be stampeding the box office to see the movie. But we don't have to worry about that now, because

1) Robert Zemeckis has lost interest and passion.
1) The project probably can't get financing anyway.

And you know? The bottom won't be dropping out of my life due to the cancellation of a mocap, Moving View Master remake of Yellow Submarine. I'm funny that way. Click here to read entire post

Ralph Hulett's Christmas, day 19

Bell towers and steepled churches usually get foreground objects, and do so here.

See other Ralph Hulett Christmas cards on the TAG Blog

Click here to read entire post

Secondary Market

DVDs and Blu-rays might be on the decline, but the little silver disks still get marketed. The big sellers:

Top 10 DVD and Blu-ray Sales

1) “Ted” (Universal). Week 1.
2) “The Dark Knight Rises” (Warner Bros.). Week 2.
3) “The Bourne Legacy” (Universal). Week 1.
4) “Ice Age: Continental Drift” (Fox). Week 1.
5) “Brave” (Disney). Week 5.
6) “The Dark Knight Trilogy” (Warner Bros.). Week 12.
7) “The Avengers” (Disney). Week 4.
8) “Men In Black 3” (Sony). Week 3.
9) “The Amazing Spider-Man” (Sony). Week 6.
10) “Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted” (Paramount). Week 7.

What often gets overlooked, even as the sales of DVDs go south, is how important the market was (and still is?) for the health of entertainment unions' pension and health plans. Long ago, unions negotiated a small piece of the action in "secondary markets" for theatrical features. Disks for home viewing count as part of the market.

At the top of the home video sales boom (ten years back? Twelve?) the money that flowed from DVDs/Blu-rays strengthened the DGA's, SAG's, IATSE's and every other Hollywood labor organization's bottom line. For animated product, the cash flow is still sizable, because parents continue to buy animation disks by the truckload. Kids watch Madagascar and Ice Age over and over, so it makes sense to have a shelf of Disney, DreamWorks and Blue Sky features close at hand.

There are three full-bore animated features in this week's Top Ten, and a noticeable amount of animation in the seven live-action specimens. So it's small wonder that the field of animation continues to grow. The market is alive and ravenous.

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Brenda

Ms. Chapman goes on record in the Record.

“The premiere was a double-edged sword because I had been replaced by Mark during production. ...

“It [Brave] is still very much my film. But I think that is going to hurt always. It was very hard to believe what was happening (when I was replaced) and I never really got a straight answer as to why. It still haunts me today.”

It's never easy when you're pushed overboard. You emotionally hurt. You physically hurt. And it's not even like there's a "right" or a "wrong," a "just" or an "unjust."

It's just the way the corporate world ... and world in general ... works. Somebody has the power to make a change, so they make it. John Lasseter -- in this case, the person with the power -- felt there should be a new director on Brave, and he made it happen. From his perspective, bringing in Mr. Andrews was the right thing to do.

As to Brenda not getting a straight answer regarding why she was sacked? In my experience people seldom get the unvarnished truth. Nobody wants to be the bad guy. Nobody wants to be the bearer of bad news. It's the way dismissals usually go down*.

* Obviously there are exceptions to this rule, through not many. Much thanks to the people who brought the above piece to our attention. Click here to read entire post

Holiday TV Animation

... finishes behind Jimmy Stewart in black-and-white.

"It's a Wonderful Life" (1.5/6 in 18-49, 5.6 million viewers) ranked #1 for the night among ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox in adults 18-49, total viewers and all other key ratings categories.

It's the #1 theatrical movie on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox so far this season in total viewers and tied for #1 in adults 18-49 (with CBS's December 15 airing of "Elf"). It's also the biggest overall audience for a telecast of "It's a Wonderful Life" since Saturday, Dec. 10, 2005. ...

Disney's Prep and Landing came in a distant second during the 8 o'clock hour, and Shrek the Halls held down second place at 8:30 on ABC. And the theatrical Shrek the Third was in the third position -- though not by much -- at 9:00 p.m.

So I guess we can agree that it's reckless to underestimate the power of Frank Capra at Christmastime. Even if you're Shrek. Click here to read entire post

Merry VFX Christmas!

VFX Soldier's campaign to end subsidies in the visual effects industry met its first financial goal yesterday around 3:00pm!

As previously mentioned, Soldier launched a crowd-funded campaign to:

challenge and mitigate subsidies that violate international trade agreements.

This campaign has been broken into stages and each stage will have a funding goal. The now-funded first stage will create a feasibility study that will determine what, if any, course of action can be taken to effectively attack these subsidies.

The campaign was briefly stopped by the crowd-funding website, Indiegogo for a few days. Solider explains that the website was seeking clarity on some matters of importance that led to the addition of this paragraph to the campaigns funding page:

Who Is The Law Firm's Client?

We have resolved Indiegogo issues and the Campaign to End VFX Subsidies is now back on-line. In response to their diligence, we have clarified that the law firm is preparing a feasibility study with VFX Soldier as its client so that it receives direction from one client and does not have independent attorney-client relationships with each contributor to the campaign. Once the feasibility study is completed by the firm, that work product will be transmitted to the client, VFX Soldier. If and when, as a result of the feasibility study, VFX Soldier and the law firm determine that there is legal action that is worth pursuing, those parties will reevaluate the representation, redefine its scope, and, potentially, after consultation with any appropriate additional parties, redefine who the law firm's client is for the next stage.

The fact that the first stage reached its funding goal so quickly shows that the this "race to the bottom" now faces its biggest fight yet. The realities of these subsidies, how they are funded and who really benefits, are starting to be understood by the artists and employees who are suffering their effects. These visual effects professionals now have the chance to act, in solidarity, to make lasting and positive changes to the field they've chosen to make their careers.

Working collectively to establish working standards and conditions that the professional has a voice in forming?! Hmmm .. I think I've heard that somewhere before ..

http://vfxunion.com

Click here to read entire post

Ralph Hulett's Christmas, day 18

Much the same subject matter as the Christmas eve card below, but a whole different treatment.

See other Ralph Hulett Christmas cards on the TAG Blog

Click here to read entire post

So Why Theatrical?

The Brew, Reporter and others have noted that Disney Toon Studios will be releasing the (up to now) direct-to-video Planes on large silver screens across the U.S. and Canada.

... Planes originally was planned for a direct-to-home entertainment release when it was announced several years ago. The movie does for the world of airplanes what Cars did for the world of automobiles and even takes cues from the designs ...

So why would the Mouse be releasing a feature produced largely in India (story, design, and some animation is being done at the DT studio in Glendale, California) into theaters? ...

There's speculation that Diz Co. wants to throw an animated something against DreamWorks Animation's Turbo and there is some resonance to that. (This is the feature that's ready for release against the second DWA film of the year so ... why not?)

But I think the three biggest reasons are:

1) Merchandise
2) Merchandise
3) Merchandise

Cars toys has made gazillions for the Burbank conglomerate, and Planes has Winged Action Figure! pasted all over it. So what if it's an Indian-based production? Walt's company isn't some high-toned Florentine art studio.

This is about the MO-neeey. Click here to read entire post

Merry Ralph Hulett's Christmas!

Once more the star in the night. You get to see back-to-back treatments of the same subject ... in different years.

See other Ralph Hulett Christmas cards on the TAG Blog

Click here to read entire post

A Schulz-Melendez Christmas

As the Journal informs us:

Of all the "Peanuts" television specials ever made, the first—"A Charlie Brown Christmas" (1965)—was the Charlie Browniest. The 25-minute special was an underdog, just like its hapless protagonist, and barely made it on the air. CBS gave producer Lee Mendelson so minuscule a budget, we learn in Charles Solomon's "The Art and Making of Peanuts Animation," that he was forced to fund the rest out of his own pocket—even though Coca-Cola had already guaranteed sponsorship. When "A Charlie Brown Christmas" pulled in sensational ratings, CBS grudgingly asked for follow-ups. "We're going to order four more," a network executive told Mr. Mendelson, "though my aunt in New Jersey didn't like it either"—a line that Schulz might have written.

Bill Melendez, "A Charlie Brown Christmas's" director, did almost all of Charles' Schulz's "Peanuts" specials, commercials and episodics from the start of their partnership until Schulz's death. His studio was in Hollywood, fully contained in three homey bungalows on Larchmont. The place was small, easy-going and efficient.

Bill was a die-hard unionist. He walked out of Walt Disney Productions when the animation crew went on strike in 1941, and never worked at the Mouse House again. A decade later, he was President of the Screen Cartoonists Guild (TAG's predecessor, and the union that organized Disney in '41) when Walt had his revenge against that union and teamed with the IATSE to help form a rival union.

This one.

Bill didn't take the attack on the SCG lightly or kindly. When he formed his own studio, Bill Melendez Productions, in the 1960s, he made sure he signed a union contract, but it wasn't with the Animation Guild Local 839, it was with the Teamsters. It remained that way for the next forty-plus years.

I was always sorry about it, but I understood Mr. Melendez's reasons, and respected them. Sometimes old wounds go deep. Click here to read entire post

Ralph Hulett's Christmas Eve

Shepherds, sheep, and starlight.

See other Ralph Hulett Christmas cards on the TAG Blog

Click here to read entire post

Bob Foster's Christmas Poem

By request, just for YOU, the President's verses.

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the studios
All the artists were working, chairs stuck to their gluteus.
Christmas bonuses dangled like carrots on sticks.
Artists fell for the gag like a bag full of bricks.

Ev’ry year they fell for the same weary tune
“Help us out of this jam and we’ll pay you next June,”
Said the bosses, investors and corporate suits,
With their parachutes, options and camel hair boots.

Then they’d file for protection with chapter eleven,
Then laugh all the way to the bank with their seven,
Maybe eight bags of cash of a shocking amount
To deposit next week in their Swiss bank account.

“Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
Pardon me, can’t you see that I must catch my flight
To my ranch in Aruba, then on to Geneva, so
Happy New Year and thanks now I really must go.
Oh, and this marks the end of your health care and bennies.
Thanks for not going union and working for pennies.”

All the artists were stunned by this rotten transgression
Against all their hard work in this noble profession
So they opened their own place and signed with the Guild
Now they all have a pension and health plan for skilled
Union workers and spouses and dependent youth.
So it pays to “Go Union,” now ain’t that the truth?

Read it off your lap top ... in front of the fire ... with your loved ones.

You'll get a warm, toasty feeling inside.

Click here to read entire post

Your Overseas Box Office

The newer totals:

... Third was DreamWorks' Rise of the Guardians, which collected $13.7 million in its sixth round overseas from 6,251 locations in 60 markets. The Paramount release lifted its foreign gross total well past the $100-million mark ($142.9 million). ...

Wreck-It Ralph, Disney’s 3D family animation title, boosted its foreign take to $7.3 million its eighth round in 34 territories, and nudged its foreign gross total $67.6 million. Thanks to its strong domestic performance, the film has grossed a worldwide total of $239.5 million. ...

Hotel Transylvania's foreign gross total stands at $164.6 million. Universal’s Ted, $284.2 million.

Here's an interesting comparison factoid: Rise of the Guardians has collected $222.6 million worldwide to date, and Box Office Mojo lists its costs at $145 million.

Wreck-It Ralph, generally considered a bigger success because it's done better domestically, has a global box office total of $239.5 million and a budget (per Mojo) of $165 million.

So let's crunch the numbers. You see a big difference in the amount of money they've taken in after accounting for costs*?

Neither do I. (Perceptions are much of the game.)

* Admittedly, the Mojo's production cost listings might not be super accurate, but they're what we have to go on, yes? Click here to read entire post

Ralph Hulett's Christmas, day 15

A domed cathedral, european-style fountain and foreground autumn leaves. Hulett didn't paint domed churches that often, but he uses it here to good effect.

See other Ralph Hulett Christmas cards on the TAG Blog

Click here to read entire post

Weekend box Office

Two animated titles (not counting live-action effects work) in the Big Ten.

1. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (MGM/WB) Week 2 [Runs 4,100] PG13 Friday $10.5M (-73%), Weekend $31.5M, Cume $145.2M

2. Jack Reacher (Skydance/Paramount) NEW [Runs 3,352] PG13 Friday $5.7M, Weekend $17.5M

3. This Is 40 (Universal) NEW [Runs 2,912] R Friday $4.0M, Weekend $12.0M

4. Rise Of The Guardians (DW Animation/Par) Week 5 [Runs 3,031] PG Friday $1.5M, Weekend $7.2M, Cume $79.8M

5. Monsters Inc 3D (Pixar/Disney) Week 1 [Runs 2,618] G Friday $1.4M, Weekend $5.0M, Cume $6.5M

6. The Guilt Trip (Skydance/Paramount) Week 1 [Runs 2,431] PG13 Friday $1.4M, Weekend $4.7M, Cume $6.7M

7. Lincoln (DreamWorks/Fox/Disney) Week 7 [Runs 2,293] PG13 Friday $1.4M, Weekend $5.5M, Cume $116.7M

8. Skyfall (MGM/Sony) Week 7 [Runs 2,365] PG13 Friday $1.2M, Weekend $4.0M, Cume $279.1M

9. Life Of Pi (Fox) Week 5 [Runs 1,750] PG Friday $1.1M, Weekend $4.2M, Cume $76.5M

10. Breaking Dawn Pt 2 (Summit/Lionsgate) Week 6 [Runs 2,000] PG13 Friday $817K, Weekend $2.8M, Cume $281.9M

Moving View Master takes Monsters, Inc. to themiddle of the pack. Guardians continues to hang in, but it seems to me its domestic multipe will be -- per the Koch Opening Numbers Calculator -- will be four to four and a half times its opening weekend gross of $23.8 million.

That's a pretty good multiplier, and not unexpected given its "A" CinemaScore, but the opening weekend numbers were weak compared to DWA's recent box office performances.
Click here to read entire post

Ralph Hulett's Christmas, day 14

A snowy New England winter's night, painted in the middle 1950s. Hulett went back to these shapes, colors and design themes many times over the years.

See other Ralph Hulett Christmas cards on the TAG Blog

Click here to read entire post