Who

From The Guardian:

The BBC is to release an animation of a Doctor Who story that was lost eight years after its one airing in 1966.

The Power of the Daleks, a story with six episodes from the fourth season of Doctor Who, featured Patrick Troughton as the Doctor.

A handful of clips have been salvaged and posted online but no complete recording is known to have survived a purge of the master negatives from the BBC’s archive in 1974.

BBC Worldwide said it has commissioned an animation studio to recreate the episodes. They will be released on the BBC Store at 5.50pm on 5 November – exactly 50 years since it was first transmitted on BBC1. ...

So what we've got here is an animated remake of an old, live-action classic. This goes against the current grain of mining live-action product from old animated features, but turnabout IS fair play.


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Winners/Losers

Since it's "Labor Day Box Office" time, let's examine end-of-summer box office:

4 losers and 3 winners from a lousy summer at the box office

The 2016 summer movie season very nearly broke records for how poorly its movies performed

... Captain America was the first big movie of the summer, and it still sank fairly rapidly at the box office. The summer’s top hit in the US, Finding Dory, was the first big family release in several weeks, and that also goes for the season’s third biggest movie, The Secret Life of Pets. ...

If you look at the top 10 films for the year at the worldwide box office, only one of them — the enjoyable Chinese comedy The Mermaid (which came and went without making much noise in the US and deserved better) — isn’t about talking animals or superheroes.

The other nine? Captain America: Civil War, Zootopia, The Jungle Book, Finding Dory, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Deadpool, The Secret Life of Pets, Suicide Squad, and X-Men: Apocalypse. ...

It's an ongoing theme. On this planet at this time, there are only two styles for summer mega-hits: spandex-clad do-gooders accompanied by lots of animated visual effects, and animation features loaded with animated visual effects.

When you're talking grosses of $500 million and up, that's the whole ball game.

Of course, there are also small to mid-budget movies without animation that (honest to God) occasionally hit a clean single or double and therefore make money, but those are, more often than not, small and happy accidents.

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Animation Replaces Animation

If Europe wants to get into feature animation in a meaningful way, it better get cracking. Because a U.S.-Canadian production just replaced an American production at the top of the U.K. box office list.

Sausage Party ended Finding Dory’s two-week reign as the UK’s number one as it debuted top of the box office.

Sony’s adult animation bit into a strong $3.6m (£2.7m), including $535,000 (£400,000) in previews, from its 525 sites. Its Fri-Sun tally of $3.1m (£2.3m) would have also seen it land a clear number one.

The opening is almost double that of most previous original Seth Rogen comedies, including This Is The End ($1.86m/£1.39m from 407 sites) and Superbad ($1.98m/£1.48m from 402). ...

Dory has been red hot during its run in the United Kingdom, up there with The Junge Book and Inside Out. As you might have noticed, along with the two pure animated titles in the Big List, there's a super hero epic replete with animated visual effects.

UNITED KINGDOM'S TOP FIVE -- Weekend -- Total Cume

1 Sausage Party (Sony) $3.6m (£2.7m) -- $3.6m (£2.7m)
2 Brotherhood (Lionsgate) $2.64m (£1.98m) -- $2.64m (£1.98m)
3 Finding Dory (Disney) $2m (£1.49m) -- $51.9m (£38.86m)
4 Bad Moms (Entertainment) $1.55m (£1.16m) -- $5.31m (£3.98m)
5 Suicide Squad (WB) $1.04m (£780,000) -- $43.4m (£32.46m)


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Europe's Weakling Features

The continent's movers and shakers are concerned:

Shaun the Sheep vs Kung Fu Panda: EU aims to help animated films take on US giants

... Europe’s mostly low-key animated film industry needs a helping hand in taking on US goliaths like Pixar and DreamWorks — and EU regulators say they are ready to join battle.

“We would like to concentrate on the European animation sector,” EU Commissioner Guenther Oettinger told journalists today on the sidelines of the world’s oldest film festival in Venice.

“We will launch a dialogue with the major European animation studios to identify specific challenges and opportunities and agree on a joint action plan by the middle of 2017,” the Digital Economy commissioner said.

While animation films are the audiovisual category with the largest European circulation, European animation films, such as Britain’s 2015 Shaun the Sheep Movie, struggle to compete with US productions.

Between 2010 and 2014, not one European production made it to the top 30 list of animation films in Europe by admission, overshadowed by hits such as Frozen (2013) and Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012).

US animated movies routinely become global blockbuster franchises, including the Kung Fu Panda, Toy Story and Shrek films, whereas in Europe they tend to be independent art-house productions. ...

Europe (including Britain) has gifted America with comedy (Charlie Chaplin), music (The Stones, Beatles) and loads of movie stars. But it's never clicked in the animation department.

It's hard to say why this is.

Part of the reason might be characters and subject matter; another reason could be format. Aardman makes terrific stop motion features, but global audiences aren't jazzed by stop motion, and box office results tell the tale. Kubo and the Two Strings has no traction, Shaun the Sheep underperformed; even Nightmare Before Christmas a well-loved title if ever there was one, was no great shakes. Nightmare earned a mere $75 million at the domestic box office back in 1993-94.

In the current era, MacGuff in Paris is the only continental studio turning out blockbuster animated features. But MacGuff is owned by California-based Illumination Entertainment, and so it's not truly "European", but a hybrid: part Yankee Doodle, part French.

It's not enough that Europe throw its government shakers and deep thinkers behind this new effort. The continent must create subject matter that the rest of the world wants to see.

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International Box Office

Animation in all its forms continues to rake in the big bucks (and yen, euros, rubles, etc.)

WEEKEND FOREIGN BOX OFFICE -- (GLOBAL TOTALS)

Star Trek Beyond $37,000,000 -- ($285,400,000)

Suicide Squad -- $11,800,000 -- ($672,900,000)

The Secret Life Of Pets --- $17,300,000 -- ($761,600,000)

Finding Dory -- $6,300,000 -- (943,200,000)

Sausage Party -- $4,600,000 -- ($97,122,884)

Pete's Dragon -- $3,300,000 -- ($92,422,939)

Kubo and the Two Strings -- $1,700,000 -- ($39,728,436)

The Jungle Book -- $800,000 -- ($963,689,442)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles -- $678,000 -- ($244,435,823)

The BFG -- $900,000 -- ($160,697,477) ...

And the trade press informs us:

... After a strong bow last weekend in China, Ice Age: Collision Course (Fox’s 5th Ice Age entry) stuck its course at No. 2 there with a $6.1M frame and a total $59.2M. Italy also held No. 2 behind newcomer Me Before You. The total session was worth $8.2M on 8,254 screens in 30 markets. That takes the international cume to $326.6M. ...

Finding Dory splashed up another $6.3M in 20 territories. The forgetful blue tang now has an offshore tally of $461.4M and has $943.2M in the global tank. ...

Lifting the international cume to $375.5M, Suicide Squad added $11.8M in 65 territories. ...

Crossing $400M international and $750M worldwide, Illumination/Universal’s The Secret Life of Pets got a $17.3M tummy rub this weekend in 55 territories. The offshore cume is $403M; globally it’s at $762.7M. ...

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That Old-Time Animation

Hand-drawn animation is (sadly) a thing of the past here in the continental United States. But animation of the stop-motion has continued to maintain a beachhead inside the citadel of commercial movie-making. ...



I'm not sure why that is, but several studio want to keep doing the art-form. (Can't blame them; when the medium works, it really works).

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Holiday Box Office

The Big List has some animation in it, also other things.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE

1). Don’t Breathe (SONY), 3,051 theaters / $3.8M (-62%)Fri /3-day cume: $13.7M (-48%)/$4-day:$16.7M/Total:$52.1M / Wk 2

2). Suicide Squad (WB), 3,292 theaters (-290) / $2.2M Fri. (-33%)/ / 3-day cume: $9.8M (-20%) /4-day: $12.77M/Total cume: $300.2M/ Wk 5

3). Pete’s Dragon (DIS), 3,272 theaters (+28)/ $1.4M Fri. (-26%)/3-day cume: $6.6M (-12%)/4-day: $9M/Total cume: $66.7M/Wk 4

4). Kubo and the Two Strings (FOC), 2,985 theaters (-294)/ $1.3M Fri (-32%)/ 3-day cume: $6.2M (-21%)/$4-day: $8.5M/Total cume: $36.4M/ Wk 3

5). Sausage Party (SONY/APP), 2,766 theaters (-369) / $1.2M Fri. (-47%)/ 3-day cume: $4.7M (-38%)/4-day: $6.3M/Total cume: $89.4M/Wk 4

6). Light Between Oceans (DIS/DWA), 1,500 theaters / $1.45M Fri /3-day cume: $5M /4-day:$6.2M/ Wk 1

7). Mechanic: Resurrection (LG), 2,258 theaters / $1.2M Fri (-53%) / 3-day cume: $4.78M (-36%)/4-day: $6.1M/Total: $16.2M/ Wk 2

8/9/10). Bad Moms (STX), 2,306 theaters (-259)/ $1.2M Fri. (-31%)/3-day cume: $4.7M (-15%)/4-day:$6M/Total cume: $103.8M/ Wk 6

War Dogs (WB), 2,848 theaters (-410) / $1.1M Fri (-43%)/3-day cume: $4.7M (-34%) /4-day: $5.9M/Total cume: $36.4M/Wk 3

Hell or High Water (CBS/Lionsgate), 1,303 theaters (+394) / $1M Fri. (+10%) / 3-day cume: $4.4M (+24%)/4-day: $5.5M-$6M/Total Cume: $16.1M/ Wk 4 ...

The Secret Life of Pets might be out of the Top Ten but is still chugging along, and will be up to $357 million domestic by the end of the weekend. (Add On: The pic earned another $3.5 million and has now collected $358,504,100 in domestic grosses).

Finding Nemo increases the number of theaters to over 2000 and should take in more than $2 million. (Add On: It made $1,980,000 and now stands at $481,855,069).

Ice Age: Collision Course remains in 692 theaters pulling in Some money. to date it's grossed $62 million domestically, but has a much higher accumulation overseas. (Add On: The feature made another $690,000 and now owns a domestic total of $62,596,030).

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Wager Survey(s)

First point:

The Animation Guild's Wage Survey wrapped up today. As of noon, TAG had a 29% return of 4,650 surveys. We'll be tabulating results for the next couple of weeks (and accepting late surveys while we do it), then we'll publish the results on the blog, in the Peg-Board, on the website.

(You can find last year's TAG Wage Survey here.) ...

Second point:

Energetic Canadians are doing their own animation and VFX wage surveys in different Canadian cities here. ...

We are now surveying wages in Ontario Animation

For all positions held in 2016. Our survey can be found at

https://goo.gl/forms/ASKkOHOhgaCEPn3u2

Currently you can see preliminary data after you submit, but the wages and positions are not currently linked. Please follow this blog for regular survey results.

Our data will only be as good as our sample size. If you work in Ontario animation, please share this survey widely....

Third point:

Cartoon Brew is reporting on the various Canadian wage surveys here:

A new artist-run survey of Vancouver animation industry employees has revealed stunning low salaries that in some cases barely reach Metro Vancouver’s baseline standard for a living wage.

Another key revelation from the survey, besides low wages, is that over 90% of animation workers in Vancouver have reported not being compensated for overtime work, a major violation of British Columbia labor law. When the unpaid overtime hours are factored into the salaries, many Vancouver artists earn below a living wage for Metro Vancouver. ...

Besides the wage sharing survey, the artists are posting commentaries that defend why unionization is currently their best option and explain what to do if a Vancouver artist learns they’re being underpaid. They point out that all of the thousands of live-action film workers in Vancouver are unionized and receive overtime compensation. ...

Unionized workers receive higher compensation? Who would have thought?

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Bountiful Russia

Diz Co. has many things about which to be grateful and happy, but the continuing shower of rubles into corporate coffers is surely one of them.

Thanks to the likes of 'Zootopia' and 'Jungle Book,' Disney releases have grossed more in the local currency so far in 2016 than in any previous full year.
The third quarter isn't even over yet, but Walt Disney has already hit its best-ever box-office year in Russia in local currency terms.

The company's releases have grossed 7.9 billion rubles ($120 million) by early September, a figure that is higher than the full-year haul for any previous year.

With four more months to go, Disney's Russian box-office performance has handily surpassed last year's figure of 7.3 billion rubles, the studio's previous record in rubles.

The company's biggest hits in Russia of this year are 'Zootopia', which has grossed 2.3 billion rubles, 'The Jungle Book' (1.4 billion rubles) and 'Captain America: Civil War' (1.1 billion rubles). That makes them the year's top-, seventh- and ninth-highest grossing movies in Russia, respectively. ...

Talking animal pictures generally travel well. This is certainly the case with Zootopia and The Jungle Book, somewhat less so with the super hero pic. (Captain America prospering in VladPutinLand? I guess Russians compartmentalize entertainment and politics. Or they just can't get enough of caped do-gooders).

But continuing robust ticket sales for animated projects in Lands Beyond Our Shores, would point to lots more animated projects getting made, no?

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Merger Hiccup

An entertainment journal tells us:

China's commerce ministry says it has received unspecified complaints that the U.S. deal, which closed last week, could hurt competition in the Chinese market.
China's commerce ministry is launching an anti-trust investigation into Comcast's recent acquisition of DreamWorks Animation.

"We will probe into the case based on anti-monopoly laws," said Shen Danyang, a spokesman from China's Ministry of Commerce, during a briefing in Beijing on Friday, as reported by Reuters. Shen said authorities had received complaints that the deal could threaten competition in the Chinese market, but he declined to specify the source of the objections.

U.S. cable giant Comcast announced in April it would buy DreamWorks Animation for $3.8 billion via entertainment arm NBCUniversal. The U.S. Justice Department approved the purchase in June after finding no threat to competition. ...

No merger is without its bumps (brick walls?) in the road. The United States government thinks the marriage is peachy-dandy, but now the Middle Kingdom is saying "Welll. Let's take this thingie over to the light where we can get a good look at it. THEN we'll tell you what we think."

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At the Diz Co. Animation Studios

This week I've had occasion to hold 401(k) enrollment meetings at two locations of the Walt Disney Animation Studios.

At WDAS Tujunga: Most of the animators on the first floor, their work completed, have decamped for the Hat Building. (And nobody sad to be leaving. The building is out in the dusty reaches of the Burbank-Bob Hope Airport's "no man's land" beyond the main runway, surrounded by machine and body shops and acres of cracked asphalt. And not a decent restaurant within three country miles of the front door).

Upstairs, the lighting department (and various surfacers) continue on Moana for another month. ...

At WDAS Riverside Drive: Interior construction seems to be at an end, since the first floor is filling up, the curved staircase from the front entrance to the second floor is now operational, and cubicles and offices are filling up. The big common area on floor #2, somewhat similar to Pixar's large open space, with hardwood floors, tables in the center and couches out on the edges, looks to be fulfilling its function as a place for employees to meet and interact. A staffer said:

"The plan was to cap out staff at 870. The redone building would hold that many people, but now we're up to 920 and the pace wasn't designed for that number of employees. So they're going to have to make adjustments. Rooms with two people will now have three. Rooms containing four people will now have five."...

I observed that management could always add cubes to some of the open areas. (Not an option they would like much, I'm betting).

The staffer said it could come to that.

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Case Continues

Better late than never: the trade papers told us:

On Monday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an effort by Disney and DreamWorks to delay a class action lawsuit that alleges that animation studios colluded with each other to deny [their] workers better job opportunities and keep wages low.

Robert Nitsch, a former visual effects worker who worked on Matrix Revolutions and Kung Fu Panda, and others are moving forward after striking a $13 million settlement with Sony Pictures and a $5.9 million deal with Fox's Blue Sky Studios. A trial is currently scheduled for June 2017 to hear evidence in an antitrust lawsuit pertaining to the alleged way that these companies conspired about a decade ago not to "cold call" one another's employees.

In May, U.S. District Court judge Lucy Koh partially certified the class over Disney's objections that the issue of statute of limitation precluded this outcome. ...

The Big Conglomerates are going to fight this until the writing appears in bright, raised letters on the wall. And even then they might push on. Because "Deep Pockets" are two of their middle names.

I'm not expecting DreamWorks, now part of the Comcast family, or the Disney Company, to settle. But then, I didn't anticipate self-driving cars to come into existence, so who the hell knows? Stranger things than th settlement of a lawsuit have certainly happened.

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Complaint

Meanwhile, up in the chilly North:

A media workers' union has filed an employment standards complaint against the Vancouver animation studio behind Seth Rogen's latest film, Sausage Party.

The complaint was filed by Unifor Local 2000 on behalf of the non-unionized animators who worked on the film.

It alleges that Nitrogen Studios — which produced the animation for the film — did not pay them for overtime hours spent working on the film.

Jennifer Moreau, vice-president of Unifor Local 2000, said such working conditions are extremely common in the booming Vancouver animation, visual effects (VFX) and video game industries.

"Vancouver has almost become like a sweatshop for these animation companies," Moreau said. "They're shipping all the work up here, because we get the tax credits, but the workers are paying the price." ...

There is always an impulse by companies to reduce costs and maximize profits. It's what companies are chartered to do, after all, within legal limits.

Sometimes corporations do it in smart ways, other times in less-smart ways. Any production-savvy veteran will tell you that when people work seven-day weeks and 12 to 14 hour days, their productivity falls off a metaphorical cliff. I've walked through studios where artists have work fourteen or sixteen days straight, and it's like looking at a mid-season episode of "The Walking Dead". Lots of blank eyes. Lots of slack faces. And there's not a lot of work going on because everyone's frontal lobes shut down day before yesterday.

Overtime pay is designed to discourage companies from overworking employees by making thos additional worked hours costly. Overtime is not simply a clause in a contract or law on a book to enrich employees and impoverish employers. It's designed to give companies incentives to find better, more efficient ways to create a product.

That's why B.C.'s carve-out of o.t. for "technology workers" is short-sighted. It demoralizes workers even as it lowers productivity.

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Craft Meeting #3 -- Designers, Layout and Background Artists, Color Stylists

Craft Meeting #3 (at 1105 N. Hollywood Way, Burbank) was called to order by board member Paula Spence at 7 o'clock. The proceedings went as follows: ...

Thumbnail Notes -- Craft Meeting #3

Members were urged to attend the September 27, 2016 General Membership Meeting, as there will be discussion and vote by the membership on TAG's future dues structure. There will also be nominations for board members and officers of the local, and approximately half of the board will be departing, including the Business Representative, President, Recording Secretary and several board members.

There were questions about the duties of officers and board members, also election procedures. The Business Representative described the roles of various Guild officers, who was eligible, and how and when the vote would take place (detailed in TAG's Constitution and by-laws, pp. 10-20).

Review of the 2015-2018 Agreement -- One Year In -- The Guild disavowed piecework for designers, layout and background artists in the 2012 negotiations; a few studios still assign piece work to freelancers, but the rule is: freelancers are paid for work at the daily rate, with a four-hour minimum call.

Work at most studios is robust, TAG has received continuing complaints from supervisors that they have difficulty staffing shows with experienced people. The Guild has record-high employment which will likely continue for the foreseeable future.

New Media -- The Business Representative reported that the 839 New Media sideletter, (Sideletter N -- pp 99-113) which allows production work for Subscription Video On Demand and other work delivered over the internet, to be paid below contract minimums. The largest employer using the New Media sidletter continues to be DreamWorks Animation TV, which pays employees new to the industry below contract rates. At this point, other studios aren't employing many individuals under the sideletter, but it continues to be a concern. New Media will be on of the major contract issues when the sideletter is renegotiated in 2018.

Studio Tests -- There were lengthy discussions regarding studio testing. Members reported that some studios are asking for 2-3 layout designs plus color backgrounds from the designs, and that these tests take 3 or more days to complete. (The test length is considered by the Guild to be abusive). Many employed veterans refusing to take tests. The Business Representative reported that he's told some studios tests are becoming counter-productive because talented, experienced artists won't take them and so studios self-limit the pool of job applicants.

Uncompensated Overtime -- Many design and layout artists reported tight schedules that were impossible to meet in forty hours of work. The Business Representative and several artists said it's important to communicate with other artists on a show's team, compare work-loads and time needed to complete assignments. Studios sometimes use the fastest artists as the standard for the amount of work required.

Several veterans reported when they ask for overtime they get it (although there is some resistance). Production assistants and coordinators are as uptight about confrontation as artists. Members said it was important to share information with co-workers, to build team solidarity, and to communicate with production about how much work can be done in a given period. When a show is overlong and the number of designs/backgrounds required cannot be met within a forty-hour schedule, artists need to communicate that overtime or a longer work schedule will be needed. (Some half-hour episodes are more labor intensive than others).

Production Schedules -- Members said that some production schedules are unrealistic. (See uncompensated overtime, above). Veteran artists pointed out that uncompensated work taken home or done in-studio by artists 1) undermines their co-workers and 2) gives studio management a false idea of how long it takes to complete tasks. Some veteran artists will continue to do uncompensated overtime, but it's important to build team spirit and discourage free o.t. wherever possible.

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More Players Wade Into the Pool

Apparently this "Hey everybody! Animation Mmes money!" meme is getting around.

Bob Bacon, a former executive at Disney and Paramount Pictures, has just been named CEO of Alpha Animation, a new division of the China-based Alpha Group Co. The division will produce animated features for worldwide distribution. The appointment was announced this morning by Alpha Interactive Entertainment CEO Chen De Rong. Alpha Animation will leverage existing IP and create original fare with plans to release its first film in 2020 and then drop one film a year after that. ...

The company, founded in 1993, is now the largest animation group and a leading pan-entertainment platform in China after it transformed itself from a toy-oriented company.

Besides the formation of Alpha Animation, Alpha Group also recently established an L.A.-based live-action feature film development company called Alpha Pictures to focus on developing U.S.-China co-productions based on properties from U17.com, the largest online comic book platform in China. ...

Bacon most recently was EVP Production at Paramount Animation, where he served as head of the animation division, overseeing the production and launch of the 2015 hit film The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water. ...

Prior to his stint at Paramount, he was a production executive for Disney’s Touchstone Pictures on the 2011 animated feature release Gnomeo And Juliet. He started his career at Disney in 1991 working on such animated family favorites as Beauty And The Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Tarzan and Lilo & Stitch. ...

The takeaway from this is that more companies, global and otherwise, are getting into animation in a major way.

Comcast purchases DreamWorks Animation; Hasbro (another toy company) grows its animation arm. Warner Bros. starts a new animation division.

It's a definite trend. And the profit angle has a lot to do with all the movement toward cartoons.

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The Widening Pool, TV Division

So more players are jumping into theatrical animation. But also this:

FX cable network programming president Eric Schrier describes the division visit to Cartoonland:

Schrier: We see animation as a place where we feel like we can be more prolific. We’ve had a couple of shows we’ve tried to pair up with “Archer” that haven’t worked out, but that show continues to be super strong for us. We’re doing a pilot now with Louis C.K. and Albert Brooks and we’re going to be growing our animation slate soon and trying to really innovate in that form. I think that’s a form we feel like we can be really successful in. ...

Animation is now a thing in the entertainment world.

Animated features, along with super hero movies, are the highest-profit segment of theatrical motion pictures.

And in TV, animation is a low cost, high eyeball entertainment delivery system that keep providing cash flow year after year. (Nobody has to guess why Fox keeps making episodes of The Simpsons, Family Guy and American Dad. There are big bucks being made.

But even cartoons from long ago continue to make money. The Jetsons had one prime-time season in the early sixties, but half-a-century later it's iconic, with additional episodes and animated features getting made. How many 1962 comedy half-hours of the live-action type, that flamed out after 26 episodes, can make a similar claim?

Like zero.

And let's not even talk about Scooby Doo. How many fortunes has that Great Dane created?

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Down-List Also Rans

We know which movies are cleaning up at the box office, and many are animated. But what about some VFX and animated losers out in the marketplace? There must be a few, wouldn't you think?

Why yes! ...

Ghostbusters '16, now residing at #20, won't be a box office winner for floundering Sony. In its seventh weekend of release, it made $553,532, for a domestic total of $124,956,153. At first glance, this isn't a horrible total gross, but consedering the flick cost $144 million and has so far earned

Nudging up against Ghostbusters at #21, Ice Age: Collision Course took in a mere $510,412 in its sixth weekend of release for a sad and semi-pathetic domestic accumulation of $61,717,141. What's saved this latest Ie Age from disaster is the robust foreign gross of $305,551,385. The franchise has always done well overseas, and foreign takings are helping to make Collision Course a money-maker, despite the lacklustre box office across the fruited plain.

Spielberg's The BFG hunkers at #27, collecting $314,007 this past weekend. The mocap feature has earned $54,319,626 in nine weekends of release. Since the epic cost $140 million to produce and has made a slim $99,338,473 overseas, it won't be doing much for Diz Co.'s bottom line.

Then there's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, which has turned out to be one of producer Michael Bay's lesser efforts. In it's thirteenth week, it's made $44,214 for an underwhelming domestic total $81,987,616.

Lastly there's Alice Through the Looking Glass taking in $11,945 on its way to a weak-kneed U.S. gross of $77,037,635. It's done a little better overseas, earning $218,100,267, but Disney won't be bragging about this release in its annual stockholder report; it'll be kicking it under the rug and hopeing few will notice it got made.

Sad to say, even the occasional animated feature fails to launch. And some of the big visual effects tent poles? They end up collapsing the corporate canvas, rather than prop it up.

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Another Animated Entry

Gaumont takes the plunge.

Marking the first new series under the leadership of President of Animation, Nicolas Atlan, Gaumont Television has partnered with Kristen Bell, Jackie Tohn, Michael Scharf and Ivan Askwith on preschool toon Do, Re & Mi. Billed as a quirky, whimsical musical adventure, it will feature original tracks performed by Bell, Tohn (American Idol) and surprise guests. The plan is to extend it into apps, games, music videos. ...

Hopefully Bell can make a bit of that Frozen magic rub off on her new animated project.

We can never have too many cartoons.


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Meanwhile, Up North In the Land of Free Money

From the Vancouver Sun:

... More than 60 digital media companies make up the local VFX (visual effects) and animation industry, representing the highest concentration of domestic and foreign-owned studios in the world, according to the Vancouver Economic Commission. Even with the provincial government poised to trim to 16 per cent from 17.5 per cent the tax credits for visual effects and animation studios come October, production at studios is booming all over town.

Creative BC’s Annual Activity Report for 2013-14 reported the dollar value of salary and wages resulting from digital animation and visual effects at $270 million. This figure doesn’t include video games and interactive media. Film and TV production is separated out as well, with a $1.611 billion value in 2013-14 (Profile 2014: An Economic Report on the Screen-based Media Production Industry in Canada). ...

As I said to a British Columbia radio reporter a week or so ago, it's fine that Vancouver is bursting at the seams, work-wise, but it would be even finer if overtime pay was a larger part of the mix.

According to the radio reporter (and maybe he's not entirely correct?) the folks sitting in front of all the cintiqs and flat screens are paid flat rates rather than hourly/overtime wages ... since the province's work rules allow that.

Me, I'm not an expert on which studios pay what in B.C., but considering the grinding hours employees at VFX and animation studios endure, time and a half and double time should be the standard after forty hours of work.

After all, it's not 1893 anymore. So why the hell not o.t.?

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Weekend Foreign Box Office

Sill a whole lot of animation going on.

WEEKEND FOR BOX OFFICE -- (WORLD TOTALS)

Jason Bourne -- $56,800,000 -- ($347,900,000)

Ice Age: Collision Course -- $50,000,000 -- ($367,700,000)

The Secret Life Of Pets -- $24,600,000 -- ($724,400,000)

Suicide Squad -- $19,600,000 -- ($636,000,000)

Finding Dory -- $6,100,000 -- ($929,100,000)

Pete's Dragon -- $3,500,000 -- ($76,215,378)

Don't Breathe -- $1,900,000 -- ($28,000,000)

Sausage Party -- $1,600,000 -- ($88,708,510)

Kubo and the Two Strings -- $1,500,000 -- ($27,620,378)

The Jungle Book -- $1,300,000 -- ($959,800,000)

A trade journal tells us:

... Ice Age: Collision Course was new in China this frame, trapping $42.5M there for a No. 2 start behind Bourne. The debut makes it the top non-local animated opening in the Middle Kingdom this year. ...

The Secret Life of Pets clawed away at another $24.6M in 57 territories to bring the international total to $371.2M. The pack now has $724.4M in worldwide kibbles. ...

Sausage Party ranked No. 1 in Israel for the 3rd consecutive weekend and showing strong holds elsewhere, Sony’s Seth Rogen comedy has chomped down on a total $8.7M overseas. This weekend filled the taco with $1.6M in 16 markets. Australia saw a 29% dip for a local cume of $5.3M and Israel has now grossed $1.3M. ...

Finding Dory swam to Scandinavia this weekend, adding $6.1M in 19 total territories for an international cume of $449.5M. ...

You look at the global market, it's super heroes, action and bucketloads of animation.

Even the latest Ice Age feature, which failed to launch in the U.S. of A., will be collecting north of $400 million before it plays all the theater chains in all the countries around the globe. IA's total grosses will be four times its $105 million production cost, and so end up being another winner for Blue Sky.

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