As an ex-theatrical film distributor myself, I’m always following trends in the industry as it evolves due to new technologies and changing public tastes. Yesterday’s L.A. Times had a good article on Jonathan Dern’s The Bigger Picture which, through various subsidiaries, is distributing anime and kiddie films to weekend matinees on a regular monthly schedule.

Dern’s company has found a way to market direct-to-video animated features to digitally equipped theatres, usually a few weeks before their DVD release. Filling the theatre isn’t a big concern for his business model, a fact made possible due to the low costs involved with distributing a film via digital projection.

Although major studio movies attract big crowds on weekends, Dern said that over the course of a typical week auditoriums are often filled to only 10% to 15% of capacity.

“If we can move the dial 1%, that’s a big number,” Dern said.

Bigger Picture started three years ago, when Dern and Rutkowski came up with the “Kidtoons” animation programs. A typical program might include a G-rated feature, such as this spring’s “Strawberry Shortcake: Berry Blossom Festival,” plus cartoon shorts, music videos and singalongs.

“The light bulb went on,” Dern said. “We said, ‘When else are there very few people in theaters? When else could we put people in seats?’”

If I had to guess, I’d suspect that Dern’s company is making its money by charging a distribution fee from the film’s video company, who may consider this a justifiable cost of special marketing the DVD release. Is it working? I’m not sure what kind of box office money they are generating (it wouldn’t surprise me if they are offering these films to theatres for free) but apparently theatre owners are pleased.

Shari Redstone, president of National Amusements Inc. in Dedham, Mass., said the distributor was building a following at theaters such as The Bridge in Los Angeles.

At 10 a.m. on a Saturday in March, she said, the chain’s 24 theaters taking part in “Kidtoons” sold 1,200 tickets for “Strawberry Shortcake” — a strong turnout at a time when business is typically slow or nonexistent.

“When I was a kid, we’d watch a horrible print of ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ and buy stale popcorn,” Redstone said. “This is a new and better experience for the whole family. And it’s another way to ensure that a generation grows up knowing that when they want to be entertained, they can go to their local movie theater.”

As someone keeping track of U.S. theatrical animated feature film releases, I’ve been struggling with how to chart these film showings. Technically these are theatrical releases, but there are no physical prints and the movies themselves were clearly made for video release. For now I’m considering them a footnote in my long term research. Time will tell how they should be cataloged — and whether The Bigger Picture will endure .

Heads up, New Yorkers. Michael Sporn will be discussing his short films at an ASIFA-East gathering tomorrow night at 7pm, at the School of Visual Arts. Mike is one of the best independent animation filmmakers working today, and one of the most informed bloggers as well. If I were in NYC on Wednesday, that’s where I’d be.

Here’s a killer item on ebay.

If I could afford it, I’d buy this. Since I can’t I might as well post it here and maybe one of our rich readers will get it and make a high rez scan for me.

Fred Boot is a French graphic designer and cartoonist who has been living in Hong Kong for the last 6 months.

He’s started a nice blog and has a pitch for an animated TV Series, The Shakers — both worth keeping an eye on.

I was going to post about Collin Ord’s forthcoming book Magic Moving Images: Animated Optical Illusions, but he’s posted a (silent) video on YouTube that says it all:

For those of you who were disturbed by our post of Bimbo in Israel, here’s the flip side of the coin.

Currently playing in San Francisco is Disney In Deutschland, a new play by John J. Powers. It purports to recount a meeting between Uncle Walt and Der Fuehrer, face-to-face, with Leni Riefenstahl thrown in for good measure. It even goes so far to suggest Disneyland was Adolf’s idea! Calling Max Bialystock!

Luckily, our brave buddy Harry McCracken went, saw the play and posted his review here. It sounds awful.

Variety has posted the first trade review of Ratatouille - and it’s a rave.

“After the superhero spoof of “The Incredibles” and the auto anthropomorphism of “Cars,” the idea of yet another talking-critter toon might strike some auds as overly quaint and familiar. But the last thing “Ratatouille” wants to serve up is yet another shrill, jabbering, pop-culture-referencing menagerie. Under Bird’s careful direction, Remy, with his persuasively rat-like movements and meek nods and shrugs, delivers one of the more endearing and soulful animal “performances” in recent memory… The entire production is a captivating visual delight, as the fluid shifts between human and rodent perspective, and the camera’s sensitivity to different gradations of light and color, are nothing short of stunning.”

Thank you, Pixar - again!

(Oh, and check out Mike Barrier’s review and the WALL•E trailer for a taste of what’s to come).

Soundac was the Miami Florida animation studio that did commercials, station IDs, and most famously, the first color cartoon for TV (beating out Hanna Barbera’s Ruff and Reddy by a few months), Colonel Bleep. Creative head Jack Schleh was the main artist and director of the studio, and the same year he was immersed in work on Bleep (1956-57), another job came into the shop: Weather Man.

Fran Noack was the studio’s top character designer and he, with staff artist Hal Lockwood, animated these incredibly cool, ’50s modern Weather Man spots which were sold to local news broadcasts around the country. Check them out. Each one is visually clever, with great graphics and cool lettering (and you gotta love that weathervane headpiece!).

(Thanks, Bedazzled!)