Ideas/Commentary

‘Legends of Oz’ Producer Greg Centineo Knows Why The Film Flopped

Last weekend, "The Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return" recorded the worst opening ever for an animated film in more than 2,500 theaters. The film's exec producer, Greg Centineo, a former Florida coffee shop owner who raised over $100 million from investors to produce this film and its followups, thinks he knows what went wrong.

TV

Animation’s Domination Slips on Fox Sundays

While Fox’s Sunday night lineup was dubbed Animation Domination in May 2005, it did not officially become all-animated until 2010. Now, the announcement of their fall 2014 schedule reveals that the cartoons will be ceding some of their Sunday night territory to live-action comedies "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" and "Mulaney," which will be taking over the 8:30 and 9:30 time slots, respectively.

CGI

Takashi Murakami’s Feature Film Debut “Jellyfish Eyes” Arrives in the U.S.

"Jellyfish Eyes" marks the feature film directing debut of Japanese superstar artist Takashi Murakami. Described as a post-Fukushima sci-fi fantasy, the $7 million live-action/CGI hybrid film incorporates Murakami's goofily-styled creatures throughout, as well as an appearance by his fine art character Miss Ko2.

Arik Roper
Artist of the Day

Artist of the Day: Arik Roper

New York City-based artist Arik Moonhawk Roper illustrates fantasy art in full washes of color or in limited colors for black light posters, books, and shirts. He has illustrated a handful of covers and articles for "Arthur" magazine, and he also frequently gets commissions from musicians that find his art to evoke exactly the right visual mood for their music.

Business

British Studios Locksmith and Double Negative Plan To Make CG Features

There are big developments in the UK animation industry in the wake of a much-heralded tax break received by the British animation industry that went into effect last year. Sarah Smith, the former creative director of features at Aardman Animations, is setting up a studio named Locksmith Animation. She bills it as the UK’s "first high-end CGI feature animation studio," and it is focused on creating a long-term slate of films for worldwide distribution.

Ideas/Commentary

Reflections On 10 Years of Cartoon Brew

Cartoon Brew officially launched on March 15, 2004. A decade is a long time to be doing anything, but it feels like an especially long time to be blogging daily. As we head into the site's 10th anniversary year, here are some reflections on where we've been and where we're headed.

Box Office Report

‘Muppets’ Stumble in the US, ‘Rio 2’ Is #1 in Russia

No new animated movies debuted in the United States this weekend, although Disney's family-oriented "Muppets Most Wanted" opened. The film opened in second place with a disappointing $16.5 million (estimated), far below the $29.2M opening of the franchise reboot "The Muppets" in 2011. That earlier film plummeted at the box office, too, after its opening, suggesting that the Muppets franchise isn't as relevant to kids today as it was with earlier generations.

Animators

‘The Hero of Color City’ Brings Crayons to Life

If LEGO can have its own movie, so can crayons. At least that's the thinking behind "The Hero of Color City," an animated feature being distributed in the U.S. by Magnolia Pictures, which also distributes the Oscar-nominated short films as well as documentaries like "Jiro Dreams of Sushi" and "Blackfish."

Feature Film

Kirby Atkins is Making Progress On His Feature ‘Beast of Burden’

While working on his short film "Mutt" in 1999, television writer/animation director Kirby Atkins ("3-2-1 Penguins," "The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius") conceived of a new idea about anthropomorphized cartoon animals. Over time, that idea evolved into the concept for his new feature "Beast of Burden," which is currently in development at Huhu Studios in New Zealand.

Box Office Report

‘Frozen’ Crosses $1 Billion Mark On The Day It Wins Oscar

It's a special day for directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee. Their film "Frozen" will win the Best Animated Feature Oscar on the day that it crosses $1 billion in global box office revenue. It becomes, along with "Toy Story 3," only the second animated feature to achieve this distinction, and the 18th film overall.

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