Monthly Archives: December 2007

Top Grossing Films of 2007

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From IMDB comes this listing of the top grossing films of 2007 (U.S. Theatrical box office, in millions):

1. Spider-Man 3 • $336,530,303
2. Shrek the Third • 320,706,665
3. Transformers • 319,014,499
4. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End • 309,404,152
5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix • 292,000,866
6. The Bourne Ultimatum • 227,137,090
7. Ratatouille • 206,435,493
8. The Simpsons Movie • 183,121,527
9. Wild Hogs • 168,213,584
10. Knocked Up • 148,734,225

Three of the films were pure animated features (Shrek, Ratatouille, The Simpsons Movie) and another four relied heavily on CG special effects (Spider-Man 3, Transformers, Pirates and Harry Potter). In addition to these figures, it should be noted that Bee Movie grossed $122,651,629. and Meet The Robinsons, Surf’s Up and, (cough) Beowulf were modest successes in their own right. Enchanted is doing great and although I don’t consider it an animated film, Alvin and the Chipmunks has become a huge Christmas holiday hit.

All in all, it’s been a great year for animated films – and results like these reassure Hollywood that animation is still viable, popular – and big business.

Here’s to a great 2008! Happy New Year!

Delgo?

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Coraline, Wall • E, Kung Fu Panda… 2008 has many exciting animated features scheduled for release. But is anyone anxious to see this?

I admire the fact that this is an independent production — something I frequently champion on this blog — created by a group of dedicated animators out of Atlanta, with an all-star voice cast and an ambitious trailer. But the character designs are, to me, unappealing and the character animation lacks the sophistication the big studios (Pixar, Blue Sky, etc.) have long perfected.

The film is apparently in post production and the producers are seeking a theatrical distributor. My guess is it’ll go straight to video.

Mickey’s Meat

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I’ve noticed it’s been several months since we last posted on unusual Disney-licensed food products. Earler this year we had posts on Old Yeller Dog Food, That Darn Cat Food, Disney Peter Pan Tomato stickers, and Mickey Mouse Liver Paste.

As the year comes to a close, we should note Croatian meat maker, Pik, has added to its Disney line with an assortment of Mickey Meat products.

Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but I can’t help thinking these would sure go good with an Orangina right now.

The Rarest Looney Tunes of All

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For years I’ve been trying to make the case for The Bugs Bunny Show. This was the original ABC TV series which first brought the post-1948 Looney Tunes to prime time (and later Saturday morning) television. The original bridging material was directed by Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng and Robert McKimson and featured all the Looney Tunes stars with voices by Mel Blanc.

The show was never syndicated, and though prints of the original series exist (mainly in original broadcast black and white) they are scarce. The clever bridges were cut up and reused, for decades, on Saturday morning reruns. The problem is that the film editors at Warners cut up the original negatives for this purpose. We are able to present some of these bridges on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection dvd sets as bonus material, in a Frankenstein-like hybrid of black and white and color footage.

Matthew Hunter over at the Misce-Looney-ous blog has just started to post some of these lost bridges – including my favorite, the first one produced by Chuck Jones (this was the fifth episode aired, in November 1960). If you are a Looney Tunes fan, these are certainly worth a look. And until Warners greenlights a full restoration of the series, this is all we’ve got.

His Pen-and-Ink Live For Laughter…

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Below is an Eastman Kodak ad I spied recently in a 1950 edition of The Hollywood Reporter. I love the headline copy — “His Pen-and-Ink Live For Laughter…” — juxtaposed against the angriest illustration of an animator I’ve ever seen (click for a larger view). I realize the animator is angry because he’s working out the expression he’s drawing, but it still strikes me as funny. Regardless of its humor value, it’s still a kind of cool historical curio.

Eastman Kodak ad

Three Little Pigs named to National Registry

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Each year the National Film Preservation Board of The Library of Congress names 25 “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant films to the National Film Registry, a collection of movies selected to be preserved for all time. Chuck Jones’ What’s Opera Doc?, Bob Clampett’s Porky In Wackyland, Fleischer’s Snow White (1933), Pixar’s Toy Story and several Disney titles including Steamboat Willie, have already made the grade. The 2007 selections were just announced and Disney’s landmark Three Little Pigs will be inducted this year.

I assume they will preserve the original, politically incorrect version?

Disney’s Bolt

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Disney fans are still outraged at the dismissal of Chris Sanders (Lilo and Stitch) from his film American Dog.

Now renamed Bolt, the revised senario is being directed by Chris Williams (Mulan) and is being readied for release on 11/26/08. A new image (above) released today on ropeofsilicon.com has some of the fans even more enraged. The character’s redesign is less appealing and more generic, some say, than Sander’s original.

I’ll concede that this publicity picture is not as attractive as some of Sander’s previously released preliminary paintings. However, I’ll trust Lasseter and Williams’ judgement in this matter and am willing to wait and see the final product next November. Lasseter made a similar directorial switch on Ratatouille – and I was certainly pleased with how that turned out.

(Thanks Celbi Pegoraro)

Animal Soccer World

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This has to be one of the worst animated films I’ve ever seen.

Animal Soccer World is apparently a Sony PlayStation 2 game that liberally rips off character designs from various Disney films (Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Lion King, Bambi, et al) and produced on zero budget. Does anyone have the scoop on who made this atrocity? The people behind the music, voices, drawing, and animation (check those walk cycles) deserve to be recognized for their contributions to the art. Check out part one (below), if you dare.

Not enough? Click here for Part Two, Part Three, and Part Four.

(Thanks to Matt Wilson for pointing me toward this)

Persepolis opens today

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Persepolis, opening today in New York and Los Angeles, is as far from the Hollywood status quo as you can get. It’s an important film, not only for its brilliant presentation of an incredible true life memoir, but for its artistry and its courage to take animated features toward a new path of personal, autobiographical storytelling.

Autobio is common in alternative comics and animated shorts, but rarely at feature length. Bakshi’s Heavy Traffic certainly blazed this trail over 35 years ago, but that was then and this is now. If animated features are to progress, animators need to feel comfortable to tell stories beyond the commercial constraints required by the Hollywood motion picture industry. Stories must get deeper, visuals must evolve, and all the techniques available to animation artists should be used (let me note that Pixar stands unique among the major animation studios, artfully pushing the medium in a commercially entertaining way acceptable to both Hollywood and to mainstream audiences).

Sony Pictures Classics deserves kudos for taking a chance on releasing this (and The Triplettes of Belleville several years ago) in a country weary of cartoon features and less demanding of its motion picture entertainment. Already garnering rave reviews, Persepolis is positioned to influence the medium and may inspire further independent animated features.

But will it? I’m not sure. It’s not that I’m looking for more films to look or feel like Persepolis, rather, I’m hoping for more artists and cartoonists like Marjane Satrapi who will bring their passions to animated films. That’s how our artform will grow — and what I hope Persepolis will do.

Love it or hate it, I encourage you to see the film. Below is video of creator/co-director Satrapi discussing the influences of comic books on her life and work. Merry Christmas.

The Oozing Skull

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Once again I’ll veer off topic to plug my favorite comedy troupe outside the realm of animated cartoons.

As mentioned here previously, the main brains behind Mystery Science Theatre 3000 have regrouped to create a new series of movie commentaries under the banner Cinematic Titantic. The first one has just been released on DVD and is only availble for purchase through a website called EZ Takes. There are clips and customer reviews posted there, but based on what I’ve seen and know, the first film, The Oozing Skull, is as hilariously skewered as anything on the original MST3K. Be one of the first to check it out, it’s a great way to kick off the new year.