DreamWorks Animation and its new parent, Universal Studios, have pulled the plug on the long-gestating sequel to the 2013 hit “The Croods.”
Universal Pictures Chairman Donna Langley met with workers at DreamWorks Animation’s Glendale headquarters Thursday to confirm that production of “The Croods 2” was being stopped immediately.
Some 30 employees who have been working on the film, launched 3 1/2 years ago, will be looking for new jobs. The workers were told DreamWorks Animation hopes to keep them at the company. Some could be shifted to other film projects, while others might be put into training or “artistic development” programs, according to an individual at Universal, who asked not to be named. ...
MUMBAI: A pall of gloom has been cast over the Indian animation industry. Late last evening, an announcement was made in the Technicolor facilities in Whitefiled, Bengaluru which house the DreamWorks Dedicated Unit (DDU) by general manager Damien de Froberville. Sources say that de Frobeville addressed the 300-odd assembled artists and animators and regretfully announced that the DDU would be ceasing operations come early -2017. At least that’s what he had been informed by the company’s headquarters in the US. ...
Folks have been expecting change to happen at the studio ever since Jeffrey Katzenberg exited DreamWorks Animation with the acquisition. But no one expected it to happen so suddenly. It was not too long ago that DreamWorks Animation had announced that it would be lopping off 200 jobs from its Glendale unit. And now the news has emerged that the Indian dedicated DreamWorks Animation unit would get the axe. ...
Source indicated that the Indian Technicolor management was awaiting official word from Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Dreamworks’ headquarters before deciding on the way forward. ...
... The magnitude of our Studio's success in fiscal 2016 is simply stunning. We released four films that broke $1 billion in worldwide box office, The Force Awakens, Captain America: Civil War, Finding Dory, and Zootopia. And Jungle Book came very close with $966 million. Our Studio slate topped a record-breaking $7.5 billion in total box office for the year. Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm all contributed to this remarkable achievement, and their creative momentum continues.
Doctor Strange just opened to great numbers, Marvel's 14th consecutive movie to open at number one at the U.S. box office. And it has already surpassed $377 million worldwide. Our next animated musical, Moana, is already generating great buzz ahead of its opening later this month. And we expect it will join the pantheon of recent hits from Disney Animation alongside Zootopia and Frozen. ...
... [The Disney Company] posted adjusted earnings of $1.10 per share on revenue of $13.14 billion for its fiscal fourth quarter. Revenue slid 3 percent from the prior year, which Disney said included an extra week of operations.
Analysts expected Disney to report earnings of about $1.16 a share on $13.52 billion in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters. ...
... Veteran production designer Kendal Cronkhite-Shaindlin (“Madagascar”) had plenty of hair, fuzz and felt to work with in weaving a psychedelic world divided between the joyous Trolls and hateful Bergens.
“We wanted to create a hand-made kind of world made of fiber art…carpeted floors, houses made of hair, even fire made of hair…and Kendal was essential to doing that and getting our teams [in sync],” said director Mike Mitchell. ...
One of the production designer’s first decisions was hiring Portland-based fiber artist Sayuri Sasaki Hemann to build a six-foot forest model so they could analyze its properties. And an early aha moment was basing the Troll hair on wool.
“We broke it all down,” said Cronkhite-Shaindlin. “How does fuzz respond to light? What choice would you make for grass? How would you craft a mushroom?” This provided textures and a palette to emulate in CG. ...
... [T]his old handout by Disney/Pixar legend Joe Ranft [is] about how to pitch storyboards. It's from an old manual about how to do story at Disney. ... I really want people to remember Joe and what a great, fantastic board artist and teacher he was. ...
We don't pitch like this anymore because we don't really board on paper anymore. So we don't really have to stand in front of an audience while pitching, we get to sit in the back of the room while our boards are projected onto a big screen. Those days of standing in front of a big group, pitching drawings you weren't happy about, and bombing in front of an audience are over forever, it seems. It's still nerve-wracking to me every time I pitch though. Some things never change. ...
Almost all of Joe's advice is still very relevant to pitching in the digital age. The main point of pitching boards is to give a sense of what the sequence will feel like when it's turned into a film, and that means not slowing down to over-explain anything or get off-track from communicating the story and characters to the audience. ...
... Employees of Nickelodeon Animation Studios “strongly ratified” a new two-year contract between Nickelodeon and the Animation Guild, the guild announced Tuesday. The agreement was reached between representatives of the guild and the Viacom unit a week ago and was voted up at in-person meetings Monday.
The new collective bargaining agreement includes 10 sick days per year. It also contains the package reached in the 2015 AMPTP-Animation Guild negotiations: 3 percent wage minimum increases and hikes in the Motion Picture Industry Pension Plan, in addition to larger pension and health plan contributions. The guild has had a contract with Nickelodeon since 2002.
“We want to congratulate Nickelodeon on the productive contract talks,” said Animation Guild business representative Steve Hulett. “The discussions would not have gone as well as they did without the input and assistance of IATSE vice president Mike Miller. There were issues to resolve and both sides, working together, resolved them. Nick[elodeon] employees recognized the value and improvements in the new deal and voted accordingly.” ...
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have re-upped their television pod deal at 20th Century TV for another 3 years. Under the new pact, the duo will continue to develop, write and direct their own comedy projects — both live action and animation — as well as supervise other writers’ projects for network and cable under their Lord Miller banner. Lord Miller head of television Seth Cohen will continue to oversee all television projects and executive produce alongside Lord and Miller. Katie Newman will continue on as director of development and production. ...
Lord Miller has three series on Fox developed through the company’s first 20th TV pod deal, the Emmy-nominated Last Man On Earth, now in its third season, new animation/live-action hybrid Son of Zorn and the upcoming time-travel comedy Making History. They also have a project in development at Fox 21 Television Studios based on the podcast phenom Serial. ...
In features, The Lego Movie and 21/22 Jump Street helmers Lord and Miller are directing the Han Solo Star Wars anthology movie. ...
1) Ten sick days per year.
2) The Animation Guild/AMPTP 2015 package (10% pension increase; 3% minimum wage increases; 30% increases for Pension and Health contributions for Unit Rate storyboard artists.
3) Two-year contract term, ending on July 31, 2018 with other 839 Collective Bargaining Agreements.
Three years after Young Justice was cancelled by Cartoon Network, the cult action-animated series is coming back. Warner Bros. Animation just announced that it has begun production on a third season of all-new episodes of the series based on the characters from DC Entertainment.
There is no network for the revival yet. There had been a lot of chatter over the past 10 months about a new season of Young Justice, possibly on Netflix, fueled in large part by comments made by the show’s creators Brandon Vietti and Greg Weisman. The streaming service carries the existing two seasons of Young Justice and is considered a suitable home as it has successfully revived several cult series already, though sources note that the animated show is in the marketplace and no decision has been made on a network partner yet. ...
WEEKEND FOREIGN BOX OFFICE -- (WORLD TOTALS)
Doctor Strange -- $118,700,000 -- ($325,400,000
Trolls -- $30,300,000 -- ($149,600,000)
The Accountant -- $13,100,000 -- ($109,400,000)
Inferno -- $11,400,000 -- ($185,400,000)
Miss Peregrine's Home -- $3,600,000 -- ($253,470,302)
Storks -- $2,900,000 -- ($168,208,504)
Finding Dory -- $1,600,000 -- ($1,024,018,426)
Kubo and the Two Strings -- $300,000 -- ($68,676,521) ...
... Great word-of-mouth is encouraging folks to make an appointment with Doctor Strange as the film continues to conjure mystical numbers in its 2nd frame. The sophomore weekend was worth $118.7M in 53 material territories. The overall international cume is now $240.4M after 13 days and $325.4M globally
Trolls keeps dancing with a $30.3M weekend to bring the offshore total to $104M. Poppy power was in force in 67 markets including the top new play of Mexico with a $2.7M start for No. 1. ...
Inferno added $11.4M this weekend for an international cume of $159.3M as the Tom Hanks-starrer continues to play with international auds. The latest in Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Dan Brown franchise is currently in 61 total markets and has France on deck next weekend. ...
A futher $3.6M for the Fox release of Tim Burton’s fantasy Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children brings the total to $170M overseas in 30 markets. The total offshore has surpassed the lifetimes of Snow White And The Huntsman and Oz: The Great And Powerful in the same bucket of markets. ...
Laurent Zeitoun and Yann Zenou, the producers behind ... the upcoming animated feature “Ballerina,” have enlisted Hollywood animation vet Rodolphe Guenoden to direct “The Bravest,” a 40 million euros ($44 miillion) animated feature exploring the world of firefighters in New York. ...
“The Bravest” will bring together a creative team that includes animation director Ted Ty, whose credits include “Mulan,” “The Lion King,” “Rise of the Guardians,” “Kung Fu Panda,” and “Ballerina”; and Canadian screenwriter Jennica Harper. ...
Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” ... was composed for DreamWorks Animation’s Trolls, and occupies a huge emotional point in the film. Timberlake, who also co-stars in the animated pic, not only wrote the song but served as the film’s music executive producer. ...
He successfully made himself tear up while watching a scene featuring a performance of the Cyndi Lauper classic “True Colors,” as he explained this afternoon while talking with Deadline’s Dominic Patten during the DreamWorks Animation panel at Deadline’s the Contenders event in West Hollywood.
“‘True Colors’ [is] a beautiful song, and it’s a huge emotional moment in the film,” said Timberlake. “And so I’m watching it and I’m like, ‘Am I … crying? At myself?’ I thought my only opportunity to do that was like a bottle of Jack Daniel’s and a mirror!” ...
Today at Deadline’s the Contenders event at the DGA Theatre, Sausage Party scribe/producer/voice-over star Seth Rogen told Deadline’s editor-in-chief Mike Fleming that he had been developing an R-rated toon for a while. When he felt it was ready, he approached animation director Conrad Venron. ...
“I wanted to do an R-rated cartoon since I watched 1981’s Heavy Metal,” said Vernon, “Seth said, ‘We have a movie where sausages leave their packages and screw the buns,’ and I said, ‘I’m in.'” ...
“We wanted to show how different aisles believe different things and don’t get along with one another, and really show the true personification of everyone coming together,” joked Rogen. “Sometimes, if the bun fits…”
DOMESTIC WEEKEND GROSSES
1). Doctor Strange (SONY), 3,882 theaters / $32.6M Fri. (includes $9.4M previews) / 3-day cume: $81M to $83M+ /Wk 1
2). Trolls (DWA/20th Century Fox), 4.060 theaters / $12.3M Fri. (includes $900K previews) / 3-day cume: $42.8M to $43M+ /Wk 1
3). Hacksaw Ridge (Lionsgate), 2,886 theaters / $5.2M Fri. (includes $750K previews) / 3-day cume: $14.5M to $15M / Wk 1
4). Tyler Perry’s Boo! A Madea Halloween (LG), 2,234 theaters (-65) / $2.1M Fri. (-54%) / 3-day cume: $7.6M to $8M (-56%) / Total cume: $64.9M to $65.2M / Wk 3
5). Inferno (SONY), 3,576 theaters / $1.8M (-65%) / 3-day cume: $6.1M to $6.4M (-56% to 59%) / Total cume: $25.9M to $26.2M / Wk 2
6). The Accountant (WB), 2,688 theaters (-714) / $1.7M Fri. (-31%) / 3-day cume: $5.7M (-32%) / Total cume: $70.69M / Wk 4
7). Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (PAR), 3,079 theaters (-701) / $1.6M Fri. (-46%) / 3-day cume: $5.3M (-45%) / Total cume: $48.9M / Wk 3
8). Ouija: Origin of Evil (UNI), 2,380 theaters (-788) / $1.1M Fri. (-50%) / 3-day cume: $3.7M (-51%) / Total cume: $31M+ / Wk 3
9). The Girl on the Train (UNI/DW), 1,572theaters (-1,186) / $833K Fri. (-40%) / 3-day cume: $2.7M (-38%) / Total: $70.6M / Wk 5
10). Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children (FOX), 1,710 theaters (-1,087) / $502K Fri. (-51%) / 3-day cume: $1.9M (-50%) / Total: $83.2M / Wk 6
...
... Animators in Latin America are mining indigenous elements – rites, mythological characters, lush landscapes – to create animation which highlights key issues – ecology, diversity – in a region where animation is seen as part of a natural culture while setting their works apart in industrial terms from Hollywood blockbusters. ...
Select Latin America’s animated features are breaking out to standout box office results. Mexican title “Un gallo con muchos huevos” grossed $9.1 million in the U.S. for Pantelion Films and $10.0 million for Televisa’s Videocine in Mexico. Alberto Rodriguez’s Mexican feature “La leyenda del chupacabras” near bested ‘Ouija: “Origin of Evil” in its opening weekend on Oct. 21. Argentina’s new Promotion Plan for Cinema offers development and production support for animation.
“The challenge is now how companies which are about to complete a first project set up a permanent structure to sustain a slate of productions, and how they strengthen a still-developing sector,” Animation! co-ordinator Silvina Cornillon. ...
David Sproxton of Aardman Animations: Animation as we knew it was kids’ stuff, mostly American imports. But there was this small slot on TV, a buffer between BBC kids TV and the news. We thought that’s the height of our ambitions. In the 70s, it was a very tiny world. ...
Aside from British films like Animal Farm and Yellow Submarine, only Disney made feature films, as far as we were aware. And it was all drawn animation. That’s the way the world seemed to be. We didn’t dream of making a feature film for a long time. We actually had a meeting with Disney when they were the only game in town, as they were at pains to point out to us. ...
We have no doubts about what we do because we do it really well and we love it. I’m realistic to know that in the corridors of Hollywood we’re obviously regarded as small scale – good, classy, but small-scale because no stop-motion film has ever made as much money as any of the big CG films. ...
We always knew there was a more European interest in what we were doing. If you can find someone with the clout and the risk taking and the money, it’s going to be a happier marriage for us than trying to understand Middle America. We do know our European audience. ...
Turkey’s animation industry is blooming—the country currently counts over 30 animation studios, 13 feature-length animated films produced to date in the country, and four festivals dedicated to animation. ...
Russian animation producer Wizart has signed a raft of agreements for its animated feature franchise Snow Queen and cartoon movie Sheep & Wolves in early sales activity at the ongoing AFM in Santa Monica.
The Moscow-based company has sold home entertainment rights to Sheep and Wolves to Germany's Koch Media for Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Luxembourg and the South Tyrol. It also sold the film to Denmark (Angel Scandinavia A/S) in the first Scandinavian deal for the franchise. ...
Fox has renewed The Simpsons for an unprecedented 29th and 30th seasons. The renewal takes the long-running hit animated series to 669 episodes, the largest number of episodes for any scripted television series ever, and breaks the record previously set by Gunsmoke (635 episodes). ...
Currently in production on its 28th season, The Simpsons has won 32 Emmy Awards, 34 Annie Awards, a 2016 People’s Choice Award and a 2016 Environmental Media Award. It was the first animated series to win a Peabody Award and was nominated for an Academy Award in 2012 for the theatrical short The Longest Daycare. The Simpsons Movie was a hit feature film, the mega-attraction The Simpsons Ride at Universal Studios has received historic expansion updates with the addition of “Springfield”. ...
Over 350 SAG-AFTRA performers and their supporters picketed Warner Bros.’ WB Games unit Thursday in Burbank, marching under a blazing sun along a residential street in the shadow of the studio’s famed water tower and shouting chants that included "Death screams are on strike!" The union’s video game job action edged into its third week with no resolution in sight.
The picketers, who included actors responsible for voicing the death screams, creature noises and battle cries of such top games as the Batman: Arkham series, as well as those who do performance-capture work for such games, are focused on a handful of issues, notably a proposal for residual-like back-end compensation. The companies have refused that demand, and both sides are dug in. ...
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