Free Money For Diversity

There's a tax subsidy bill coming up on the East Coast, and letters are being written.

Nearly 500 film and TV writers have sent letters to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo calling for a new tax incentive for television producers who hire women and minority writers and directors. Writers who sent letters include Tina Fey and Oscar winners Tom McCarthy, Paul Haggis, Marshall Brickman and Michael Arndt.

Legislation to amend the tax incentives program, which has bipartisan support in the New York State Legislature, would allocate $5 million from the state’s existing $420 million annual rebates to go toward the salaries of female and minority writers and directors. ...

Since we're all about providing cash for the production of motion pictures in various states across the fruited plain, it would be a good idea for California to hand out cash for TV animation, which fled California in the seventies and eighties and never returned.

(And sure, crtoon PRE-production is done here, a lot of it. But not production.)

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The Animation Guild Golden Award Interviews #24 -- Lew Irwin and Betty Brenon

We don't hear a lot about the people who were a notch or two down from the "stars" of the animation business -- the Ward Kimballs and Chuck Jones and Milt Kahls -- who have been celebrated in books and documentaries. But they were there, doing the work that needed to be done getting cartoons on the silver screen. Betty Brenon and Lew Irwin were two of those artists.



Lew Irwin worked at Schlesingers before World War 2 and Warners after it. He began his career in the 1930s as an in-betweener, and by the end of his journey through Cartoonland half a century later, Mr. Irwin was a production manager and supervisor of assistant animators. ...

Betty Brenon also worked farther down the food chain, painting and inking cels for Leon Schlesinger (where she was hired in 1933) and went on to a multitude of other studios ... which included running her own ink-and-paint service.




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Harvey's and Bob's Latest Foray Into Cartoonland

A trade paper tells us:

Meryl Streep, Mel Brooks, Nicole Kidman and Zendaya are on board to voice characters in the animated film “The Guardian Brothers.”

The Weinstein Company has bought worldwide rights, except for China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau, and will launch sales at the Cannes Film Festival.

The movie was released previously in China by Alibaba Pictures under the title “The Little Door Gods.” Streep will play the film’s storyteller.

Gary Wang directed “The Little Door,” produced by Zhou Yu and Light Chaser Animation Studios. TWC noted that it recently bought international distribution rights for “The Nut Job 2,” which it will also be selling at Cannes.

“I’ve loved working with our Beijing partners Light Chaser Animation,” said TWC Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein. “Everyone who knows me, knows I’m determined to build our animation division for film and television. This is going to be a huge area for our company and ‘The Guardian Brothers’ is just the beginning of our plan to bring the caliber of film associated with TWC to animation.” ...

Eleven years back, the Weinstein Company had a positive experience with Hoodwinked, it's first animated feature release. HW was made inexpensively, received mixed reviews but made a fortune relative to its cost.

The Weinsteins have had their hands in other animated projects since, but none have come close to their first release (which they picked up at Cannes near the end of its production). As with Hoodwinked, The Little Door is a movie made by others that TWC intends to buff to a glistening sheen with high-powered vocal talent.

It's anybody's guess whether Harvey and Bob Weinstein can reignite the magic audiences discovered in their 2005 animated offering. But we will soon find out.

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Surprise, Not.

The Mouse is setting records.

With such films as Zootopia, The Jungle Book and now Captain America: Civil War swinging at the global box office, The Walt Disney Studios scored a hat-trick of records this weekend.

In 128 days of 2016, the Mouse crossed $1B domestic with $1.121B to date. The studio also crossed $2B international with $2.22B and zoomed past $3B global with $3.341B. Each is a new industry record. ...

Worth noting: two animated features (one a remake) and one super hero flick heavily crusted with animated effects, is propelling the House of Walt into the stratosphere.

I'm sure the other fine, entertainment conglomerates are taking copious notes about how Diz Co. achieved this, because imitation is the sincerest form of Hollywood.

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Worldwide B.O.

Our friends at the Walt Disney Company are (apparently) well on the way to opening their own mint ... and also too, a couple of overseas branches.

FOREIGN WEEKEND BOX OFFICE -- (WORLD TOTALS)

Captain America: Civil War -- $220,000,000 -- ($678,391,000)

The Jungle Book -- $24,100,000 -- ($776,185,265)

Zootopia -- $5,700,000 -- ($956,424,990)

Ratchet and Clank -- $500,000 -- ($10,095,633) ...

And the trade press notes:

... Disney/Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War added $220M overseas in the sophomore session. The cume to date is a fantastic $496.6M international and $678.39M worldwide. The China start led the charge abroad with $95.8M moving through Middle Kingdom turnstiles this weekend. ...

With a $24.1M international weekend, Disney’s swinging adventure [The Jungle Book] is well within reach of $500M overseas. The total to date is $491.2M for a global $776.19M. The Jon Favreau-helmed crowd pleaser just leapt through its 5th offshore frame in 52 territories and still has Korea and Japan to come. ...

Zootopia has zoomed past the $950M mark with a global $956.43M to date. Disney’s animated parable is the No. 1 movie of 2016 worldwide and internationally, and the 6th biggest animated film of all time. ...

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Newer TV Animation Technology

... delivered by the patriarch of the Yellow Family.

In just over week, The Simpsons will offer ... the final three minutes of an episode that will feature Dan Castellaneta, who voices Homer Simpson, improvising dialog as he takes questions from fans. Motion capture technology will allow the show to animate the interaction in real time.

Jean revealed that the show's creators had been talking about doing a live Homer bit since 2007, when they considered it for a Tonight Show promotion of The Simpsons Movie. But he said that motion capture technology wasn't up to the task at the time. When the improv-themed episode came along, they looked into the technology again and found that it had advanced well enough to meet their needs.

"[Motion capture technology] used to have electrodes wired into the person," he said. "Now they don’t. The actor just speaks into a mic, and the camera records his motions, and transfers it to the character onscreen. However, you can only do that with one or at most two characters. The backgrounds don’t change and the character can’t really interact with somebody in the background." ...

It's unlikely that television animation will be turning into "improv theater" anytime soon.

The technology is restricting, and unless you're superior at unscripted verbal riffs (Robin Williams is, unfortunately, dead) then I think the only thing gained is an opportunity to create stilted animation that teeters on being an incoherent mess.

However. For a three-minute tag on a long-running comedy show, it might work.

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Your American Box Office

Lots of Disney animation, from super heroes to fuzzy animals, populated the Top Ten list.

WEEKEND TICKET SALES

1). Captain America: Civil War (Disney) 4,226 theaters / $74M-$76M Fri. (includes $25M previews) / 3-day cume: $176.4M-$182M / Wk 1

2). The Jungle Book (DIS), 4,144 theaters (+103) / $5.3M Fri. (-48%) / 3-day cume: $23.6M (-46%) / Total Cume: $286.7M / Wk 4

3.) Mother’s Day (OR) 3,141 theaters (+106) / $2.1M Fri. (-26%) / 3-day cume: $8.4M (0%)/Total: $20.1M/Wk 2

4). The Huntsman: Winter’s War (UNI) 2,901 theaters (-901) / $988K Fri. (-63%) / 3-day cume: $3.8M (-60%) / Total Cume: $40.6M / Wk 3

5). Zootopia (DIS), 2,077 theaters (-410) / $675K Fri. (-46%) / 3-day cume: $3.3M (-38%) / Total cume: $328.3M / Wk 10

6). Keanu (WB/New Line) 2,681 theaters (+23)/ $861K Fri. (-75%) / 3-day cume: $2.9M (-69%)/Total cume:$14.9M/ Wk 2

7.) Barbershop: The Next Cut (WB), 1,734 theaters (-576) / $625K Fri. (-62%) / 3-day cume: $2.6M (-57%) / Total cume: $48.7M / Wk 4

8.) Ratchet & Clank (GMY/FOC) 2,895 theaters (+4) / $434K Fri. (-71%) / 3-day cume: $2M (-58%)/Total cume: $7.7M /Wk 2

9). The Boss (UNI), 1,933 theaters (-890) / $455K Fri. (-62%) / 3-day cume: $1.8M (-57%) / Total cume: $59.2M / Wk 5

10). Batman v Superman (WB), 1,593 theaters (-737) / $263K Fri. (-72%) / 3-day cume: $1.1M (-71%) / Total cume: $327.3M / Wk 7 ...

Let's see: We've got two pure animated features -- Zootopia and Ratchet & Clank -- in to top ranks, one 88% animated feature, and then two VFX-heavy offerings featuring caped crime fighters.

SO it's not really a big surprise that animation remains a growth industry.

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One More Animation Studio

Feature animation continues to be all the rage.

LONDON — Paramount Pictures and Locksmith Animation, which launched in 2014 with backing from Elisabeth Murdoch, have inked a deal to co-develop and co-produce a series of animated projects for the studio.

Under the pact, Paramount and Locksmith are progressing three properties, which Locksmith has been developing since it launched, with plans to head into production within the next 12 months and to release the first theatrical movie in 2020. The deal also contemplates developing other projects together over time to create a pipeline of releases.

Locksmith, which claims to be the U.K.’s first dedicated high-end CG feature animation studio, was founded by writer/director Sarah Smith (“Arthur Christmas”) and producer Julie Lockhart (“Shaun the Sheep Movie,” “Pirates! In an Adventure With Scientists!”), with backing from Murdoch. ...

Elizabeth Murdoch is the forty-seven-year-old daughter of Rupert, and considered one of the most powerful women in the United Kingdom.

Sarah Smith is a British film director, writer and producer. She worked in Culver City on the Sony-Aardman feature Arthur Christmas, which earned middling box office returns at the time of its release in late 2011.

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Oh Dear ...

From the Reporter, delivering ominous news:

Bubble Watch: 10 TV Shows Facing Imminent Cancellation

... Bordertown (Fox): Animation is judged by a different set of standards, but Fox's latest Sunday entry is a ratings bummer by any measure. Shuffled since its little-promoted premiere, Bordertown is only netting a 0.9 rating among adults 18-49 (in live-plus-7 returns) on a block that typically performs much better with the younger set. Sure, the network and studio 20th Century Fox TV aren't keen to upset executive producer Seth MacFarlane — but it's not like he doesn't have his hands full. ...

BT was always a bit dicey. Subject matter, developed a while ago, didn't roll out at an opportune time. And the shows could have been funnier. Viewing several episodes, the jokes and sight gags were hit-and-miss, with perhaps a few too many misses.

So, if THR is correct with its prognosication, I guess it will son be adios!

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No Warner Acquisitions

So there's plenty of media speculation, after Comcast gobbles up DreamWorks Animation, that more acquisitions and mergers are just over the horizon. But the Warner Bros. top-kick pours cold water on that idea.

Comcast’s $4.1 billion pact for DreamWorks Animation won’t pressure Time Warner or any other media conglomerate to go on a buying spree, Warner Bros. Entertainment CEO Kevin Tsujihara told analysts on Wednesday.

“I don’t think we’ll see more consolidation,” he said during a conference call to discuss Time Warner’s first quarter earnings. “I don’t think [the DreamWorks Animation deal] is going to be a precursor to a lot of transactions.”

There has been speculation that entertainment companies could begin to pool resource through mergers and acquisitions as they try to compete with Disney (the owner of LucasFilm, Pixar, and Marvel) and Comcast (the cable giant that also houses NBCUniversal). Viacom is currently selling a minority stake in Paramount and Lionsgate, the last pure play, publicly traded studio has been the subject of merger speculation.

But Tsujihara doesn’t see many things for sale that could add to Warner Bros.’ arsenal of superhero and animated tentpole films. ...

Part of the problem? There aren't a lot of tent poles ... or companies owning tent poles ... available to buy. Not long ago the smart money thought that Disney Chairman Robert Iger overpaid for Pixar, Marvel, and finally LucasFilm. But Diz Co. has made sizable profits from its purchases and the skeptics are re-thinking their earlier positions.

But Warner's decision of not going the Disney route is understandable. It's building a new feature animation division named WAG (Warner Animation Group) and has already had sterling results with The Lego Movie It already owns a plethora of DC super heroes, and how many caped wonders does one movie studio really need?

Still in all, corporate strategies change over time. In 2007 Comcast-Universal partnered with Chris Meledandri to create Illumination Entertainment from scratch. Eight years later, Comcast-Universal pulled a leaf from Robert Iger's playbook and paid $3.8 billion for DreamWorks Animation, its TV operation, and twenty years worth of DWA animated features.

The Mouse's business model is plainly enticing, and Comcast-Universal and Warners mean to replicate it, each in their own way.



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DreamWorks' Profits

So Jeffrey K's company (though not for much longer) does well in the earnings department.

... DreamWorks Animation just disclosed better-than-expected financial results for Q1 at a point when — with its $3.8 billion agreement to sell out to Comcast — the strong performance can’t really influence the stock price.

The studio reported a net profit of $13.8 million, up from a $54.8 million loss a year ago, on revenues of $190.4 million, up 14.4%. Analysts thought the sales number would be lower, at $182.6 million. Earnings at 16 cents a share were well above expectations for 1 cent. ...

And Jeffrey had this to say:

... A week ago, Comcast and NBCUniversal announced the acquisition of DreamWorks Animation. I believe the agreement not only delivers significant value for our shareholders, but also supports NBCUniversal's growing family entertainment business. As stated in the press release, the transaction is subject to a number of closing conditions including regulatory approval and Comcast expects the transaction to close by the end of 2016.

Between now and then, it is business as usual for us. I will continue leading the company and will be working diligently each and every day with our teams to ensure that we are executing towards our strategic goals. ...

So it is, as stated previously, "full steam ahead" and business as usual until January, 2017.

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Blues Bros.

From yesteray, this:

Bento Box Entertainment announced plans [May 3] to develop and produce “The Blues Brothers,” as an animated comedy series. The project, which has been in the works for years, hails from Dan Aykroyd and former “Saturday Night Live” writers Judy Belushi and Anne Beatts.

The music-centric series will center on the adventures of Jake and Elwood Blues, two brothers who belong to a blues band. While no network is attached, Bento Box will shop around the project as a primetime comedy series. The independent studio is currently behind Fox’s “Bob’s Burgers,” among other shows. ...

Nostalgia is all the rage, what with The Jungle Book and various live-action remakes of Disney animated features. So why not do a rebake of a "Saturday Night Live" act from the seventies, one that birthed a #1 album, a moderately successful feature film, various tours and additional recordings?

Remaking earlier hits, breathing new life into old franchises, that's what American entertainment is about.


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Animators Fret

The Hollywood Reporter analyzes the marriage of Comcast Universal and DreamWorks Animation, and some union rep shoots off his mouth:

If you listen closely, you can hear a hint of pessimism in the predictions of Steve Hulett, business rep of the Animation Guild, about what will happen after NBCUniversal completes its acquisition of DreamWorks Animation. Thanks to the Walt Disney Co.'s 2006 purchase of Pixar Animation Studios, for example, Hulett has seen versions of this movie before.

"Usually they spend a period of time trying to soothe nervous hearts," says Hulett of acquirers. "They lie to the crew because they've got a picture to get out, and they can't have people jumping ship. … They use whatever argument they can use to calm you down." ...

We've discussed this with a few DWA employees, and it appears as if the television side of the biz is in good shape. In fact, the television side of DreamWorks Animation's business, appears to be a large part of the reason that Comcast-Universal desired the acquisition. The conglomerate has a cable network to program and DWA's growing cartoon library looks to be -- once the Netflix obligation runs its course, ready-made for C-U.

What will happen to feature animation production in Glendale is murkier and more uncertain. Our assumption is that more production will sooner or later be shipped to the land of snowy winters and Free Money, but this merger ... if approved by the government ... won't finalize until the end of the year and the word we've picked up is that work on current feature projects is "full steam ahead".

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Lining Up Talent

... for the next Space Jam.

... The Fast & Furious 6 and Star Trek Beyond helmer [Justin Lin] is co-writing, with Dodge and Botello, Warner Bros.' Space Jam 2. Lin is also looking to direct and produce via his Perfect Storm Entertainment, and sources say he will be thoroughly involved in the creative development of the project.

The WME-repped Cleveland Cavaliers forward, who recently appeared in Amy Schumer comedy Trainwreck, will star in the sequel. Rumors of a follow-up to the live-action/animated 1996 hit have been circulating for years but picked up steam in July when James and his company SpringHill Entertainment signed a deal with Warner Bros.

The first film, which earned $230.4 million worldwide, featured Michael Jordan teaming up with a collection of Looney Tunes characters to play a game of basketball against aliens threatening their freedom. ...

That first film, twenty years back in 1996, was a harried, hectic affair. The live-action shoot went well enough, except they didn't do a lot of pre-planning for the animated elements (Bugs, Daffy, etc.) and the schedule for the animation crew ... when animation finally got rolling ... was a hair-breadth short of insane. There was nine months to get everything done before the release date, and animators and assistant animators were sleeping under their desks. (This was in those happy, now-distant times when Warner Bros. actually paid overtime to animation crews).

I imagine Mr. Lin will want to pre-visualize the feature. I also imagine that Warners will desire to make the cartoon characters in CG, since CG is all the rage. But I have no idea when the picture might start production. It will likely happen when the studio gets a script that it likes. Now, at least, Space Jam 2 has a director.

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The Soldier on The Merger

I've been asked by many: "What's going to happen with DreamWorks Animation?" Though I don't have specifics (because the rude folks at Comcast-Universal have dropped me off the "CC" list for internal e-mails), I have made predictions about how DWA's future will unfold. And now I find, courtesy of a TAG member, that VFX Soldier has stirred back to life and offers this:

... [The DreamWorks Animation-Comcast merger] is a huge success for Katzenberg and he deserves it. However for the employees at DWA it’s a vastly different story because Comcast will subscribe to Mellandri’s feature animation production model and not the production model of Katzenberg.

... Katzenberg generally subscribes to the ["end-to-end"] production model in feature film CG-animation that is shared by John Lasseter at Disney and Pixar ... where from the storyboard to the final comp the whole production pipeline is generally housed under one roof. The employees are treated very well with good salaries, generally longer term contracts and with some having union benefits. The management team can clearly see what works and what doesn’t and adjust accordingly. The problem is adjustments can be like turning a huge ship which can lead to overflowing budgets if you’re not looking ahead. ...

Another model is the traditional outsourcing model that many ... love to talk about. This is where pre-production is done by animation veterans in the US and sent to CG productions facilities in Asia like India and China where labor costs are very low. ...

The final model is the one that I believe Comcast will subscribe to: The subsidized production model. This is the model that Comcast will adopt from its leading animation producer Chris Meledandri. It’s the same model former Imageworks exec Bob Osher adopted and one that many other VFX facilities have been forced to adopt: Move your production to locations where the government offers huge amounts of free taxpayer money. ...

The first bad sign [about the merger] is Katzenberg leaving. That gives Comcast no resistance to do what it intends to do no matter how stupid or costly it is. I know the Kool-Aid can be very potent at DWA and if I were you I would be completely skeptical of any terms of transition directed at any of you. A buy-and-hold period of about a year has been established so you have between now and “ground zero day” to pack your parachute. If ground zero day arrives and your safe great, if not, at least you are prepared. Given the landscape of VFX and CG animation production these days you might want to begin looking at the option to move to Canada, New Zealand, or the UK if you are interested in pursuing a career in VFX and animation. ...

Soldier's thoughts about DreamWork's future pretty much track my own.

On the bright side, I think the company will beef up pre-production for both features and television. Comcast is interested in following the Disney synergistic model where content boosts merchandise, beefs up the amusement parks, and becomes a driving force for video games and various distribution platforms. Much of this work will stay near the mothership in Los Angeles.

On the less-bright side, some (all?) feature production will leave town and go to places that pay lower wages or give away free money. As I write, there are 565 Guild members at DreamWorks Animation feature division and 261 Guild members at DWA's TV division. In the next one to three years, I would expect the feature numbers to diminish and the TV numbers to increase.

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Trimming the Free Money Sails

Oh my my.

The British Columbia government is cutting film and TV tax breaks amid an industry boom that drove the cost of the tax credits to nearly half a billion dollars in the last fiscal year – a decision that prompted some within the industry to worry U.S. producers could have second thoughts about bringing their projects to the province.

Finance Minister Mike de Jong followed through on his concerns about the cost of such tax breaks by announcing a plan to cut the basic production-services tax credit by five points – to 28 per cent, from 33 per cent. The credit compensates producers for claimed B.C. labour costs at the designated rate. At the same time, the digital animation or visual-effects tax credit will be cut to 16 per cent, from 17 per cent.

Earlier this year, Mr. de Jong said the province could no longer afford the tax credits, which have soared from an average annual cost of $313-million to $491-million in 2015-16. An increase in production, partly due to the low Canadian dollar, saw producers claiming more tax credits.

British Columbia’s decision to tinker with its tax-credit scheme comes as other jurisdictions have grappled with whether or how governments should support the industry. Saskatchewan got rid of its tax credits. Nova Scotia did the same last year, decimating its production industry. Ontario lowered its tax support last year for foreign productions. ...

The problem with giving away free money is it gets expensive for the geographic locality even as it becomes addictive for the fine entertainment conglomerate grabbing up the gobs of gratis cash.

California does it. Georgia does it. Likewise Britain and France and different Canadian provinces. But at some point the locals start to get restless watching their tax money go to big fat corporations that don't really need it, but will gladly take the moolah if some government chump offers same.

Long live free, unfettered enterprise!!

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The Animation Guild Golden Award Interviews #23 -- Curt Perkins and Lee Halpern

Curtis Perkins and Lee Halpern both entered animation in 1936, when the West Coast industry was expanding (Disney was still looking for artists to complete Snow White) and there were a cluster of other studios turning out shorts.

Curt Perkins began his career at Walter Lantz, but soon moved to Disney where he did effects animation and storyboarding. After World War II, he operated his own studio and worked for Hanna-Barbera and Filmation, among others. Curt passed away at age 80 in 1996. ...



Lee Halpern began his cartoon career at Leon Schlesinger's the summer of '36, making a princely $6 per week. Happily, he didn't stay at the rate for long, and by the 1960s was working on both theatrical shorts and television half-hours. Lee continued to work into the late 1980s, principally at Filmation. He passed away at age 86 in 2002



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ONE MORE SETTLEMENT ON WAGE SUPPRESSION

Sony decides to make peace.

First Fox’s Blue Sky Studios reached a multi-million dollar settlement and now tellingly Sony has come to an 8-figure deal to exit the on-going potential class action suit against itself, DreamWorks Animation, Pixar, LucasFilm, Disney and the now shuttered Imagemovers Digital over wage-fixing and anti-poaching allegations. The $13 million dollar Sony deal signals a major shift in the ‘toon studios’ legal strategy and could see the remaining defendants moving to make their own deals to wrap this thing up. ...

Citing expediency, the plaintiffs’ attorneys want Judge Lucy Koh to schedule the preliminary approval hearing for the Sony settlement with the already set June 16 court appearance for the Blue Sky Studios deal. A hearing on class certification for the case is currently on the calendar for May 6.

Former DWA visual effects artist Nitsch first filed his case on September 8, 2014 with Wentworth and Cano putting their paperwork before the courts soon afterwards. “The Defendants themselves have explained the purpose of the conspiracy and in doing so, articulated the harm and injury caused by it to their workers. George Lucas explained under oath that the purpose of the non-solicitation agreement was to suppress wages and keep the visual effects industry out of “a normal industrial competitive situation.’” ...

The Animation Guild was subpoenaed for docments on this case several months ago, and I was then deposed for three hours in Century City. (I didn't have much of importance to say beyond giving dates of meetings and regurgitating a few points out of some redacted emails.)

My take on all the studios (alleged) wage suppression scheme is that companies large and small have been focused on keeping costs down for years. I understand that maximizing profits are what corporations do, but there are legit ways to go about that, and less legitimate ways. Studios working in concert to keep wages lower (allegedly) was a long-term strategy, and that the various companies are, one by one, making decisions to put the issue behind them. (Probably a wise thing to do.)

Our fine, entertainment conglomerates already get Free Money from various geographic locations (California, Georgia, Canada, Britain, France, etc., etc.) so they should lay off hammering paychecks into the ground. The Top Dogs should let the people that put the images on the screen earn more money too.

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World Box Office

There is a poop-load of animation (what with animated features plus animated visual effects) in the Global Box Office list:

WEEKEND FOREIGN BOX OFFICE -- (WORLD TOTALS)

Captain America -- $200,200,000 -- ($200,200,000)

The Jungle Book -- $57,100,000 -- ($684,795,800)

Zootopia -- $8,300,000 -- ($931,418,489)

Batman Vs. Superman -- $2,750,000 -- ($862,932,593)

Ratchet and Clank -- $600,000 -- ($6,823,000)

Kung Fu Panda 3 -- $3,100,000 -- ($509,907,337) ...

And our fine entertainment journal tells us:

Before taking the fight to the U.S. on May 6, Disney/Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War began its offshore campaign this frame in 37 territories. With an estimated $200.2M, Team Cap and Team Iron Man came in just behind Avengers: Age Of Ultron’s international start last year and set all-time opening weekend records in Brazil, Mexico and the Philippines. ...

Disney had a full dance card this weekend, also seeing The Jungle Book swing to another $57.1M internationally for an offshore total of $432.7M. In Europe, the Mouse dominated all the major markets with Civil War and Jungle Book placing No. 1 and 2 in many territories and with Civil War/Jungle Book/Zootopia sweeping the top three spots in the UK yesterday. ...

With a weekend of almost $100M global, The Jungle Book continues to beat its chest at the worldwide box office. The 4th offshore frame was worth $57.1M to bring the overseas total to $432.7M and the global tally to $684.8M. ...

Disney’s other animals were fairly wild again this frame, picking up $8.3M in the 12th – yes, 12th – offshore frame. The international total is now $607.9M for $931.42M global. Still playing in 40 territories, Zootopia benefitted from the Golden Week kickoff in Japan where it rose 9% versus last weekend. That holdover power enabled it to beat the launch of its own studio rival Captain America: Civil War, and bodes well for the coming frame. Meanwhile, in Germany, with 3.47M admissions, $31.8M in total box office and a 4th place finish in its 8th weekend of release, Zootopia has become the market’s No. 1 movie of 2016. ...

Kung Fu Panda 3 continued its run in 19 markets. Released by Fox, which has DWA titles through 2017, KFP3 grossed a further $3.1M to bring the total since its late January release to $368M overseas. ...

As their run winds down and with Marvel rivals now dominating offshore play, the Batman Vs. Superman pulled in an estimated $2.75M this weekend from approximately 3,400 screens in 59 markets. The offshore cume is now $537.8M. ...

With animation of all stripes killing at the world box office, it's not real surprising that the market for experienced talent is tightening.

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Active Investing = Washout

From the Big Picture:

Why Is Active Failing?

• Too much competition: As Charles Ellis, a former member of both the Yale endowment fund and Vanguard’s board (our podcast is here), observed:

Gifted, determined, ambitious professionals have come into investment management in such large numbers during the past 30 years that it may no longer be feasible for any of them to profit from the errors of all the others sufficiently often and by sufficient magnitude to beat market averages.

Hence, even a market that is not perfectly efficient quickly eliminates almost all of the potential alpha, or above-market returns. Being smart, hard-working and savvy may create only a short-lived advantage — or none at all.

• Main Street has given up on Wall Street: The average retail investor over the past 15 years or so has endured the dot-com boom and bust, the housing bubble, a full-blown financial crisis followed by an awful stock-market crash, a whipsawing commodities market and almost zero returns on cash savings. These investors now suffer from finance fatigue and have little interest or faith in anything that Wall Street is selling.

Is it any surprise that many investors, after having been so badly beaten up, have decided to take their ball and go home? And by ball, I mean capital, and by home, I mean low-cost index funds. ...

• Internet has leveled the playing field: How much information that once was the province of a select few is now in the hands of all?

It was a huge game-changer when Yahoo message boards begin to fill up with posts from people doing legwork on individual companies. When someone reported that XYZ Tech’s employee parking lots were filled with cars 24/7 — including weekends — anyone paying attention understood that business was booming and that sales were going to beat investor expectations. For the few who grasped that, this was a period of large trading profits.

This advantage exists only when a small number of people know what a large number of people are going to find out too late to act on. When everyone knows, the advantage disappears. ...

Here and there I get asked by TAG members: "What's the best way to invest? I don't know ANYTHING about investing." ...

This is my answer (verbatim):

I'm not a licensed financial advisor, but I've been involved with TAG's 401(k) Plan and reading and studying the subject for 21 years ... and making investment mistakes for a long time before that. And here is the secret to investing for retirement (or most any other long-term thing) in a nutshell.

* It's really simple. You need three funds -- Total Stock Market (U.S.) Index; Total Bond Index; Total International Stock Index.

You need to put money into these accounts week in and week out, from the time you start earning a living to the time retire. Fifty dollars every payday, two hundred dollars, something. And keep doing that "weekly contribution" through the thin times and the fat times.

That's it.

Oh. And you have to set up your stock/bond allocation.

Do you want to be heavier in U.S. stocks, or lighter? Do you want more bonds? Most people need three stock-bond settings during their lifetimes -- from ages 25-45, it should be 60% stocks and 40% bonds (with international somewhere between 30%-40% of the stock portion); from 45-60 it should be 50% stocks/50% bonds. And from 61 to pushing up daisies time it should be 60% bonds/40% stocks. ...

Now obviously the above is Hulett's take on "How To Invest". Your Aunt Miriam might swear by a 50%/50% allocation from start to finish, and there is nothing wrong with that.

And if you have more than enough loot to last the rest of your lifetime, you can take yourself out of the "risk" game by stashing most of your money in bonds and Certificates of Deposit, although Vanguard's Portfolio Allocations Graphic shows that 80% intermediate bonds, 20% stocks is the last risky of any allocation.

But here's what louses up most investors: No matter how carefully you construct a "just right" stock/bond portfolio, no matter how fervently you tell yourself you'll be able to stick with your custom-build allocation, many investors freak out when their stock investments head south and flee from their carefully-thought-out stock and bond models, thereby "selling low" and getting crappier returns over the long haul.

The trick is, either have a cast-iron stomach and ignore plunging assets in your accounts, or forget you have those accounts altogether. (Simple, no?)

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