Cartoon Brew has pointed to The Hollywood Reporter, which has a feature article in its June 21 issue (online on its website June 13): “’Monsters’, ‘Despicable Me 2’, ‘Turbo’: Summer’s Brutal Animation War”, by Pamela McClintock. The long article has much that will be of interest to Flayrah readers, considering how many animation features showcase anthropomorphic animals and machines. Of special interest are these paragraphs: “Late last month, Pixar and Disney Animation chief creative officer John Lasseter essentially declared war on [DreamWorks’] Katzenberg by dating a slew of untitled Pixar and Disney Animation Studios films through 2018, going so far as to claim June 17, 2016, even though DWA already had put 'How to Train Your Dragon 3' there. Never before have a Pixar and DWA movie gone up against one another. Katzenberg and Fox, where Vanessa Morrison heads up Fox Animation Studios, retaliated by flooding the calendar through 2018 with their own untitled films, even planting one on June 16, 2017, a Pixar date.
More immediately, this summer's slate includes five studio 3D toons, compared to the usual two or three that's been the norm since the late 2000s. The onslaught coincides with many parents now being more discriminating about how often they go to the multiplex with their kids because of rising ticket prices (particularly 3D tickets) and the soft economy. There's also Sony's 'The Smurfs 2', a live-action/CG hybrid that will compete for the same dollars.”
Cartoon Brew has pointed to The Hollywood Reporter, which has a feature article in its June 21 issue (online on its website June 13): “’Monsters’, ‘Despicable Me 2’, ‘Turbo’: Summer’s Brutal Animation War”, by Pamela McClintock. The long article has much that will be of interest to Flayrah readers, considering how many animation features showcase anthropomorphic animals and machines. Of special interest are these paragraphs: “Late last month, Pixar and Disney Animation chief creative officer John Lasseter essentially declared war on [DreamWorks’] Katzenberg by dating a slew of untitled Pixar and Disney Animation Studios films through 2018, going so far as to claim June 17, 2016, even though DWA already had put 'How to Train Your Dragon 3' there. Never before have a Pixar and DWA movie gone up against one another. Katzenberg and Fox, where Vanessa Morrison heads up Fox Animation Studios, retaliated by flooding the calendar through 2018 with their own untitled films, even planting one on June 16, 2017, a Pixar date.
More immediately, this summer's slate includes five studio 3D toons, compared to the usual two or three that's been the norm since the late 2000s. The onslaught coincides with many parents now being more discriminating about how often they go to the multiplex with their kids because of rising ticket prices (particularly 3D tickets) and the soft economy. There's also Sony's 'The Smurfs 2', a live-action/CG hybrid that will compete for the same dollars.”
Read the entire article at http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/monsters-despicable-me-2-turbo-565846, or see Cartoon Brew’s story at http://www.cartoonbrew.com/business/a-brutal-animation-war-is-predicted-by-the-h... for Amidi’s additional comments.
Fred Patten