News briefs
6 December 2010
The UK funding page has been updated – to reflect the demise of the UK Film Council in the Coalition government’s spending review. Given that the Council funded only one completed animation film I can think of (A Christmas Carol) the impact on UK animation film-making will be pretty negligible. And Lottery Money will still be available via the British Film Institute. Ireland, facing a similarly savage round of cost-cutting, is cutting the Irish Film Board’s budget by a modest 3% so its support will also be largely spared. Feature films benefiting from IFB Euros include Cartoon Saloon’s Moon Man and the in-development Hound from Paul Bolger’s Pillar Stone Productions and BreakThru Films.
16 October 2010
Still no news on when exactly O Apostolo (The Apostle), a 3D stop-motion movie from Galicia in Spain, is going to make its debut. Should be soon, because according to the Artefacto Producciones website the shooting was completed in April. Some truly spectacular footage can be seen on the studio's website here, or on YouTube here.
PS 31 October: it appears the movie will be released in 2011.
1 September 2010
After three weeks in French cinemas, the 3D European film Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage (Le Voyage Extraordinaire de Samy) has sold a respectable 943,500 tickets. The film, about a turtle's 50-year journey around the world, is the second mass market 3D movie produced by Belgium's nWave Pictures. With backing from Illuminata Pictures (US) and Motion Investment Group (Belgium), the film is directed (like Fly me to the Moon) by Ben Stassen. The film outsold both of the US heavyweights - Toy Story 3 and Shrek 4 - in the week beginning 25 August. However it should be added they had been on release for some time and accumulated 3.8m and 4.6m admissions respectively.
In its first week on release, 577 copies of Sammy were distributed compared to 735 copies for Toy Story 3 and 842 copies for Shrek 4.
27 July 2010
It's been far too long since the last entry on this page, but I have been keeping the site up to date, with plenty of new additions to In Production, Upcoming US films and the database. To follow on from the last entry, The Illusionist has now got a UK release through Warner Bros and Pathe next month, while Jackboots on Whitehall (Vertigo Films, apparently, though it's not mentioned on their site at time of writing) and A Town Called Panic (Optimum Releasing, again not seemingly worth publicising) are coming out in October. Three Mills Film Studios could not confirm whether Tim Burton's stop-frame Frankenweenie was in production there... but referred me to Walt Disney Co.
28 February 2010
Change to the programme of this week's Cartoon Movie in Lyon: there will a screening of images from Sylvain Chomet's The Illusionist as opposed to the whole film. Makes me wonder what is amiss with this long in gestation follow up to the Oscar-nominated Triplettes de Belleville. The film seems to have been shown at Berlin earlier this month and got this favourable write-up (though not a full-scale review) from Wendy Ide in The Times (note: this not cannot be accessed unless you pay). Clips from the film can also be found on You Tube.
16 February 2010
In a first for an animated movie based on a 9th Century book, The Secret of Kells has been nominated for this year's animated film Academy Award. This makes it the fifth European movie to be nominated since the category was introduced in 2001, the others being Les Triplettes de Belleville (2003), The Corpse Bride and Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Wererabbit (2005) and Persepolis (2007). Not a bad record for a truly European effort from Ireland's Cartoon Salon, Les Armateurs and Vivi Film. I actually really enjoyed the film (which in an era of overblown 3D crafts real beauty out of two dimensions), but Up seems close to a dead cert to bring Pixar its fifth award next month. Wider release for Kells might, of course, be the real upside for the film's nomination.
10 February 2010
Cartoon Movie will be in Lyon on 3-5 March this year. New films being presented, currently in production and added to the In Production page, are: Lotte and the Moonstone Secret from Eesti Joonisfilm (of Estonia) and Rija Films (Latvia); Moomins and the Comet Chase from Oy Filmkompaniet Alpha AB (Finland); Project Chopin - The Flying Machine from Denis Friedman Productions (France) and BreakThru Films (Poland); Ramon (IB Cinema, Spain) and The Great Bear (Copenhagen Bombay, Denmark). Another 11 films in development will be presented and the eight films completed and screened include Around the World in 50 Years from stereoscopic 3D specialists nWave and Yona Yona Penguin (Denis Friedman Prods). There will also be a special screening for Sylvain Chomet-directed The Illusionist.
1 February 2009
Films being presented at next month's Cartoon Movie (held for the first time in Lyons) include a couple I had not heard about and which have duly been added to the In Production page. Egill, the Last Pagan, is based on an Icelandic saga and is being produced by a puppet animation studio in Poland and Hungary's Lichthof, producers of the successful Nyocker. From Belgium comes Suske en Wiske, based on a comic strip and set in Texas - or at least in the parallel universe that is Belgian comic strip artists' reimagined version of Texas. Or so I imagine.
Speaking of Belgian comic strip artists, I am increasingly disturbed to hear more news of Stephen Spielberg's movie version of Tintin this week. Apparently the film will be an adaptation of Red Rackham's Treasure (Le Tresor de Rackham le Rouge for French-speakers and Tintinophiles pretentieux, comme moi), with the main characters created in motion-capture and voiced by, inter alia, Jamie Bell (as Tintin), Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis), Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (Thomson and Thompson). More detail here, including the detail that new characters will be introduced including Tintin's editor (famously, Tintin is a celebrated reporter who never actually files a story) and an American Interpol agent.
I must avoid knee-jerk reactions, but I'm worried. I grew up on Tintin, mostly reading the English translations by Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper and Michael Turner, blissfully unaware of Tintin's nationality. Moulinsart? An English country house, of course - Marlinspike Hall. I only found out Sir Francis Haddock was actually a Frenchman when I was about 30. That's a tribute to the brilliance of their work, which is a shining example of sensitive translation - preserving and enriching Herge's humour and seamlessly bringing his wonderful characters to life in another language. I just worry whether Spielberg and the writers are up to it, or will 'reinterpret' the books for coke-quaffing multiplex audiences. I am almost tempted to start some sort of campaign to preserve Tintin from defilement.
23 December 2008
Just made a few improvements to the In Production and Upcoming US film releases pages. I am planning to keep a better track of European films which have been completed but not released, plus the handful of movies which cross the borders of this fair continent.
I couldn't help noticing how many films which must be in an advanced stage of production but have no confirmed release date. By my count,
there are ten films due to come out in 2009 but which have no firm premiere date. Why is this? Is the recession starting to hit movie distribution? Or is it another clear sign of the main weakness with the European movie industry - marketing and distribution. Why, after so much working raising the money and making these films, do so many disappear into a void? Where's the commitment from distributors? I've always felt it's easy to hide behind the excuse that European films are not always that good. After all, a lot of Hollywood studio movies aren't that good, but they still have guaranteed backing from distributors... and a firm launch date for the production teams to work towards.
On which note, may I wish all readers - and anyone who happens on this site - a peaceful and happy holiday and all the best for 2009!!
24 November 2008
The long list of films up for an animated movie Academy Award includes four films produced in Europe as well as Israeli feature Waltz with Bashir. Euro films include Fly me to the Moon and Dragon Hunters as well as Igor, financed by US company Exodus Film Group but made at Sparx in Paris, and The Tale of Despereaux, made at Framestore in London for US studio Universal. A total of 14 films are on the long list, announced earlier this month, and will be winnowed to a shortlist of three on 22 January. Sticking my neck out, I would imagine the Wall-E and Kung Fu Panda are certs for the shortlist – the question is, which will be the third one?
9 November 2008
Continuing a strong tradition of locally-produced films doing well in the Nordic market this year, Kurt Blur Grisom (Kurt Turns Evil) was second top-rated film in Norway in its first week on release(week ending 3rd Nov), with 34,467 admissions. The movie, about a mild-mannered truck driver who reaches the end of his tether when someone tells him his job is not important, was directed by Rasmus Sivertsen and produced at Qvisten Animation studios. More on the Norwegian Film Institute website.
Meanwhile in Denmark, A-Film's Rejsen til Saturn (Journey to Saturn) has racked up admissions of 380,977 after five weeks on release and Disco Ormene (Sunshine Barry and the Disco Worms) has 139,387 after four. Data from the DFI website.
30 October 2008
Production of Un Monstre a Paris has been suspended, according to Variety. The film, in production at Bibo Films in Paris, was due to be released in April 2010. The article cites a shortage of cash as the reason for the hiatus and cites a budget of $35m (correct figure appears to be more like €22m, about $29m). Confusingly, the article quotes Pascal Herold saying that it is impossible to raise funding for an animated film 'unless you're a movie mogul with an international profile like Luc Besson'. Besson is head of EuropaCorp, which is to distribute Un Monstre a Paris. The same article also says Gaumont
is struggling to raise the $35m budget for its planned stereoscopic 3D feature, Rock the Boat. Is recession already taking its toll on European animation? I also heard that Thor - The Edda Chronicles, due to be produced in Iceland, has run into difficulties.
18 October 2008
Niko – lentäjän poika (Niko and the Way to the Stars) was the number one rated film in Finland the first week after its release on 10 October. Total admissions were 22,966, with 66 prints on release; to put it in context, last year's top-rated film in Finland was the Simpsons movie with about 400,000 admissions - so this is a great start and the Christmas-themed film has sold all over the place (the Weinstein Co. has American rights). The film, the first full-length animated effort from Anima Vitae, is co-produced with Denmark's A-Film, Magma Films (Ireland) and Ulysses (Germany). Also making its debut was Disco Ormene (Sunshine Barry and the Disco Worms) in Denmark, with 23,433 admissions from 84 prints. Three more European-produced films are out this week: Goat Story in the Czech Republic, Der Mondbär in Germany and Igor (produced at Sparx in Paris) in the UK.
8 September 2008
White Shark has completed its first feature-length animation film,
Gnomes and Trolls – The Secret Chamber. According to the Swedish computer animation company’s website, the sales agent NonStop Sales has already sold the film to 69 territories.
The film, described as an action/adventure comedic fairy tale, is already completed and was screened at the Norwegian Film festival earlier this month. The film was made in English and directed by Robert Rhodin with Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow, who were scriptwriters on Toy Story, credited as executive producers. No word on exact theatrical release date. White Shark is already at work on a sequel, Gnomes and Trolls 2 – the Forest Trials and in 2010 will launch viking saga Astrid Silverlock.
4 September 2008
It’s been a quiet summer in terms of new animated movie releases, with European distributors leaving the market wide open for the two big US blockbusters, Kung Fu Panda and Wall E. However, September is shaping up to be a busy month, with at least four new releases due to make their debut in European cinemas:
El Espiritu del Bosque (Spirit of the Forest), the long-awaited follow-up to El Bosque Animado from Spanish studio Dygra Films and Portugal’s Appia Filmes, is due out in Spain next week (12 September). El Bosque Animado was a big domestic hit and exported to several countries including France, Italy and Germany.
Brendan and the Secret of Kells, produced by Cartoon Salon of Ireland with France and Belgium, is being released at some point by
Walt Disney in Ireland. The film (below) was presented in Dublin last week but there’s no mention of the Irish commercial release on
the Disney site. However the film has won something ungrammatically called the Directors Finders Series which means it will be screened
to an audience of distributors in Los Angeles on 19 Sept. Incredibly, this film seems to have no release lined up in the UK, though it will be coming out in France and Belgium.
Mamma Mu och Kråkan is meanwhile released in Sweden later in the month while Rejsen til Saturn, from Denmark’s prolific and humorous A-Film is out in Denmark.
27 July 2008
More news on Planet One, the CGI feature film in production at Ilion Animation Studios in Madrid: the movie will be distributed in Spain by DeAPlaneta, which is also taking DVD rights, while earlier this month, US rights were picked up by Sony Pictures. It seems that rights were previously with New Line but were dropped by Warner Bros
when it took control of the studio. Planet 51 - about a US astronaut who crash lands on a planet similar to 1950s America and inhabited by little green men whose only fear is alien invasion is Ilion's first and is currently in production with release pencilled in for November 2009. The budget is now a hefty €40m/$64m (more than the original $50m). The movie is co-produced with Worldwide Biggies, a New York based company, and international sales are through the UK's HandMade Films.
24 July 2008
According to an interview
with Aardman Animations' Nick Park in this week’s Media
Guardian, three films from the Bristol studio are “about to
be green-lit”. They are: Pirates, directed by Peter Lord;
The Cat Burglars, from Curse of the Were-Rabbit co-director
Steve Box; and Arthur Christmas. All three will be funded
by Sony Pictures and according to the piece can be expected to combine
model animation with CGI.
Since Flushed Away and the demise of its agreement with Dreamworks
Animation, Aardman has been busy producing TV series and a forthcoming
half-hour Wallace and Gromit special for the BBC, A Matter of Loaf
and Death.
A brief trawl of the web suggest indicates that Pirates will
be based on the cult books by Gideon Defoe about a loveable but incompetent
Victorian pirate captain. This was back in June 2006... so they must
be pretty well advanced. (Things don't move fast in the West Country.)
The Cat Burglars is a comedy caper about stray cats trying to
steal milk, written by the creators of the BBC series Life on Mars.
Meanwhile Arthur Christmas, (I am guessing) previously known
as Operation Rudolph, is an action-comedy created by Peter Baynham,
one of the writers on the Borat movie.
This is great news (the greenlighting bit), especially as recession
clouds loom, but I wonder. The entire output of the long Dreamworks/Aardman
relationship was only three films released over six years and at least
one stillborn project (Tortoise and the Hare). And the Sony deal
is "first-look", which doesn't apply any definite financial
support from the studio. Will it be brave enough to give the studio
its creative head?
15 July 2008
France's film support body the CNC has introduced a new funding scheme to support
the development of stereoscopic 3D animation. The NTP ('nouvelles technologies
en production') will provide grants to French producers to defray the
costs of using and developing 3D. First project to be supported is a
pilot for Occho Kohoi, a planned feature film from TEAMTO that
was presented at Cartoon Movie earlier this year. The grant is for €60,000.
Link to TEAMTO's presentation of the movie here.
21 June 2008
Two additions to the in production
page: Totally Spies! le film is being produced by Marathon Media
and Studio 37 (film subsidiary of France Telecom) and Magic Crystal
is in production by Epidem Zot in Finland and Cartoon One in Italy.
I have also been busy adding hundreds of images to the searchable database
of films.
9 May 2008
Dygra Films is producing five films in stereoscopic 3D. The first, Noche
de Paz (Holy Night), is already in production and is due
to be completed in summer 2009 for release at Christmas 2009. After
that, the studio (website here)
plans to release on film every year for the next five years. The movie
is set on Christmas Eve in a house where Santa Claus and the elves live
in the tree and the shepherds, three wise men etc live in the Nativity
scene. An alarm goes off and both worlds battle to save the season of
peace from disaster. La Coruna-based Dygra was a European pioneer in
CGI animation and is now looking to capitalise on the expected boom
in 3D (the kind you need special glasses to wear). From next year, all
Dreamworks and most Disney animation releases will be in 3D (as well
as 2D).
April 2008
Search function added to site: You can now search Animation Europe's
database of 300+ European films by title, nationality
or director.
10 April 2008
Disney announced several new projects on its upcoming animated film
slate. Starting with Up, due out in the US in May 2009 all Pixar
films will be made in stereoscopic 3D. All details of Disney films have
been added to the US releases
page on this site. With Dreamworks SKG also releasing its next films
in steroscopic 3D, this type of film is getting heavy support for the
majors. They are hoping it will get more bums on seats and massively
increase box office - the digital cinema market is growing fast, all
films will still be released as usual in 2D, and Blu-Ray DVD sales (in
the US) are going strong. Fly Me to The Moon is the only European
film made in this format and I know of only one other in production
(Gaumont's Rock the Boat), so the gap between Europe and the
US in terms of box office risks growing wider (unless the Pixar/DWA
films all flop, which is fairly unlikely).
9 March 2008
The tenth CARTOON Movie in Potsdam last week was a perfect opportunity
to assess the health of European feature film animation. There were
530 people attending, including 146 investors and 71 distributors, according
to CARTOON, which is supported by the European Commission and which
gets funding from the Land Berlin Brandenburg for the annual Movie event.
This year's crop of films was 48 in total, with 10 completed, 12 in
development, 10 in production and 16 in concept (ie at a very early
stage of development).
CARTOON president Marc Vanderweyer presented some figures on the first ten years
of the event's life which cast it in a generally favourable light. Since
1999, 123 of the 305 films presented at CARTOON Movie secured full financing,
including 24 which still in production, a success rate of 40 per cent.
Overall budgets were €800m, or an average of €6.75m per film.
Admissions in the EU to European animated films grew from four million
in 2003 to 25 million in 2005. Admissions for all animation films (ie
including US and Japanese films) were 51m in 2003 and 122m in 2005.
Marc
said this 140 per cent increase in the audience for films showed there
is still hope for more growth for the industry. He also pointed to increasing
investment from distributors and commented that authors and concepts
are much stronger than they were 10 years ago. He singled out Didier
Brunner of Les Armateurs and Thilo Rothkirch of Cartoon Film (of Berlin)
are the stars of the industry because of the strong box office record
of their films. Finally, Marc said a strong network of producers and
investors is emerging (networks are a big preoccupation of those who
run EU media support schemes).
He also mentioned some negatives: the lack of pan-European distribution;
a tendency for some films to go into production too quickly without
proper work on scripts; the lack of involvement of the UK, where there
is little funding for producers and where distributors are averse to
investing in European films.
Of course you cannot measure the health of an industry just by looking
at the growth of films produced: how many actually covered their costs,
and how many investors made a return on their investment? Well, a lot
of the €800m (most of it, probably) was either public subsidy money
which investors usually do not expect to recoup, and another chunk from
broadcasters buying rights (often, in Europe, because they are obliged
to support local production). A small amount would come from producers,
distributors and investors: these would clearly be hoping to recoup
or even make a profit.
How many have managed to do so? Undoubtedly there have been several European
films which have been successful at the box office. CARTOON said that
nine per cent of the projects presented sold over two million tickets,
17 per cent over one million, 25 per cent over 500,000 and 40 per cent
over 300,000. Assuming an average ticket costs five euros, that converts
into 9 per cent of movies making €10m at the box office and 17
per cent making €5m.
Of course, some producers make films for much more than the average €6.75m
and some for much less, so it's difficult to say how many films make
money. But it seems reasonable to assume that a majority don't make
money.
Much of the anecdotal evidence is negative. I spoke to Marc du Pontavice
of Xilam about Tous a l'Ouest, released on 5 December in France.
The break-even target was 1.4 million admissions, and it got only 600,000.
The film cost €12m and €2m was spent on P&A in France.
Filmax spent €14m on making DonkeyXote and €1.5m on
P&A and is not expecting to recoup. Filmax's most successful film
has been the cheapest (The Hairy Tooth Fairy, €2.5m) and
the company's Paco Rodriguez says it is now focusing on low cost live
action/animation films to improve its chances of making money. Other
people also mentioned disappointing admissions for local films in Germany
and recently for Peur(s) du Noir in France.
It's tempting to think that many European producers are cocooned from these
harsh realities by public funding schemes and tax shelters. As long
as their studios are kept in work year-in, year-out, their main goal
is achieved and if one project fails, there's always the next CNC, Filmboard
or Eurimages funding round to look forward to. As a European tax-payer,
I can tolerate this: I would prefer us to have some sort of infrastructure
and talent base and am ready to accept a high failure rate.
But it's still the case that most Europeans, if they choose to go to an
animated film, tend to go to an American one, and that is largely because
there are too many badly made films being pumped onto the market. I
am sure some good films are dragged down because the public perception
is so negative. The bonds of that network - between producers and financiers
- need to get stronger and European producers need to increase their
success rate, or the flow of funding will start to dry up.
9 March 2008
Locally-made films captured 13 per cent of the German box office in
2007 (2.8m admissions), while US films dominated with 82 per cent. Overall
admissions were 18.4m, according to figures published by the Federal
Film Board (FFA). By far the most successful German animated film was
Lissi und der Wilde Kaiser (2.2m) but others (Das Doppelte
Lottchen, Die Drei Rauber) made little impact. Overall share
for European films was 18 per cent (including Flushed Away with
258,000 and Arthur and the Minimoys with 695,000).
4 March 2008
Just added to the site is a page on future US animation releases,
here. With nine more
films (at least) due to be released in the rest of the year, it's become
a crowded market. As well as Disney and Dreamworks, Fox and Sony have
become active in the movie market, with Paramount and Warner Bros, indepedents
like the Weinstein Company and European and Japanese films all jostling
for position. The bar for what makes a successful movie has been raised
further and further and the gulf between Hollywood and Europe has widened.
In the Dreamworks Animation conference call, the company mentioned that
it kept about $300m in cash on its books at all time to enable it to
finance about two films. That's enough for about 20-30 European movies!
25 February 2008
Admissions to animated films in France were more than 27.1m in 2007,
with French films accounting for 19% of ticket sales. European films
(including French) accounted for 21% while US films captured 68.4% of
the market. The biggest film was Luc Besson's Arthur et les Minimoys:
released in 2006, the film registered 7.8m sales, putting it second
only to 2003's Finding Nemo (9.2m) in recent years (and perhaps
all time). Otherwise, admissions to French films were quite disappointing:
Persepolis (1.2m) was the only other hit, with Tous a l'Ouest
(377,000, though it did open in Dec) and La Reine Soleil (230,000)
nowhere near. Pixar's Ratatouille (7.7m), which yesterday won
best animated feature Oscar, was the top film of the year.
26 January 2008
Persepolis made the shortlist of three films for the Animated
Feature Academy Award this year. The French film, directed by Marjane
Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, qualifies because it was released in
the US by Sony Pictures Classics. Great news for the much-praised film
after it failed to make the list of films nominated for the foreign-language
Oscar. The two other films on the shortlist are Pixar’s Ratatouille
and Surf’s Up from Sony. There were only three films rather
than five because there has to be a field of at least eight movies considered
by the Academy to be eligible. Films must have been released in Los
Angeles county to qualify - explanation of the rules here.
24 January 2008
The 10th edition of Cartoon Movie will be held in Potsdam/Babelsberg
(Germany) from 5th to 7th March. The European films being presented
included some completed, some in production, in development and in concept.
The number of films in concept has been cut dramatically down over the
years. But there are still 11 projects looking for funding. French projects
predominate, though les Armateurs (with Ernest & Celestine)
is the only studio I've heard of (that is probably largely due to my
ignorance). There's also a Belgian project from la Parti and Belgian/French
film, Sambora, as well as the well-backed German movie 7 Dwarves.
Among the eight completed films being screened there was just one which
was off Animation Europe's radar - Mocland and the Legend of the
Aloma from Forma Armada in Spain (which looks like a TV movie to
me (link),
and I have also added Goat Story from Prague's Art and Animation
Studio to the In production page. This year I will be at Cartoon Movie,
so maybe see you there.
5 January 2008
The list of upcoming films on the In
Production page has just been updated: 2008 looks as if it will
be relatively quiet in terms of US releases, with Fox bringing out Dr
Seuss' Horton Hears a Who in the spring, Kung Fu Panda from
Dreamworks and Wall-E from Disney/Pixar in the summer and Madagascar
2 in November, also from Dreamworks. Plenty of room either from
the US majors to bring forward the launch of other movies like Bolt
(Disney) or The Tale of Despereaux (produced in London by Universal
and because it's UK qualified by the UK Film Council just added to In
Production).
As far as European films are concerned, there are plenty of interesting
films due to come out this year: Peur(s) du Noir, Max and
Co and Brendan and the Secret of Kells to name but three.
I will be reviewing the performance of 2007's crop of European features
as soon as I can compile the admissions data.
The brilliant Persepolis will finally get an airing outside France:
it's being released in Italy (Feb), the UK (April) and Germany (November)
and hopefully many other countries, while Azur and Asmar and
Ugly Duckling and Me are both coming to the UK in 2008.
14 December 2007
Winx Club, the Secret of the Lost Kingdom seems to be the
European animation hit of the year, totalling €3.7 billion at the
box office in Italy two weeks after its 30th November release. Despite
losing its place at number one to Disney festive offering Enchanted,
the Rainbow-produced film, released by Rai distributor 01, looks set
for a profitable run in its home market and should also do well in other
markets where the Winx TV series has a big following like France and
Belgium. Admissions figures from boxofficemojo.
14 December
2007
Two European films made their debut on 5th December: Tous a l'Ouest
in France and DonkeyXote in Spain. Tous a l'Ouest, produced by
Xilam, grossed €837,500 in its first week and Donkey Xote from
Filmax, €665,400 (both figures from boxofficemojo). Box office
in both countries was headed by The Golden Compass. With the
school holidays just beginning, both films should be able to build up
to an acceptable total (though the reviews for Xilam's film were lukewarm).
Nocturna has now grossed €468,151 after seven weeks in France.
12 December 2007
US movie distributor the Weinstein Company has picked up North and
Latin American rights for Niko and the Way to the Stars (Tie
Tähtiin), currently in production. Originated by Finland's
Animaker, the film is currently in production in Finland, Denmark and
Germany and is set for an October 2008 release. The Weinsteins, who
appear to have done well with Hoodwinked, are trying their luck
with a slate of independent features - which is excellent news for European
films seeking distribution over the water. Niko has sold to more than
100 territories, with Nordisk Film handling the Nordic region, Universum
lined up to release in German-language territories and Flimax in Spain.
17 November 2007
To Potsdam, Germany this week for the CARTOON
Master conference. A PDF of my presentation on online distribution
of movies will shortly be available on the Screen Digest website.
The subject should be of interest to the audience – European animated
feature film producers, mostly – but of little immediate crucial-ity.
Why? Well, European animation doesn’t have a big share of the box
office and there’s no reason to think it will be that different
in the on demand habitat on the web, IPTV and digital cable. As for
funding (which is 90% of the reason producers fork out fees to go to
conferences) as far as I can see they can forget about the net. Google,
Yahoo and others may be raking in billions from the net, but they put
barely a centime into developing or originating European animation.
The internet is still largely a parasitic medium where TV and film entertainment
is concerned. Yes I know there is some original content on the web,
but how do you find it? It’s buried deep beneath a billion clips
of American teenagers falling off walls and illegally ripped shots of
babes in bikinis. We are in the early days, though…
More interestingly, I sat in on some excellent presentations, including
three or four by producers of European films. First up was French producer
Denis Friedman and Japanese director Rintaro, presenting the Japan-France
co-pro Yona Yona Penguin.
Friedman, despite his high seriousness, was frank about the trials of
co-production, hinting that it could be very difficult without saying
why. Japanese studios like Madhouse
have no real need to work with foreigners but because they do not (for
now) have much expertise in CGI it happened to suit them to seek an
international partner. The budget is a tight €8m, and the movie
is out next year.
Paco Rodriguez of Filmax presented Nocturna,
a French/Spanish co-production. I had not realised that Red Kite Animation
from Scotland, which had been involved at one stage, dropped out. A
balls-up by the (unnamed) studio doing the compositing delayed the project
another year, and it finally came out in both France and Spain in October.
Sadly it appears to have flopped, which Paco blamed squarely on the
marketing department of Filmax and the French distributor.
Bad timing (during school term time), and not enough marketing spend.
It is a common fate of European films to fail because they don’t
get the right support: what a waste of effort. Hope the DVD does well
and there are some international sales. The premise of the film is a
bit close to Monsters Inc.
Easily the most impressive presentation (for me) was Marc du Pontavice
talking about Tous a l’Ouest,
which hits the cinemas in France next month. No problem there about
timing and with the popularity of the Lucky Luke albums the film is
based on and the recent success of the TV series also made by du Pontavice’s
company Xilam, it should do very well. The French animation industry
is really getting its act together.
Key
point of interest: 80% of the animation was done in France, thanks in
some part to the Credit d’Impot which supports the “repatriation”
of work which previously was farmed out to co-producers and Asia. This
meant it was much easier to control the work, and deliver on time even
though du Pontavice said the team went back and re-worked bits of the
film which did not come off (something European studios rarely have
the time or money to do).
The soundtrack was done in French and not English because a) du Pontavice
said Anglo-saxon distributors re-dub anyway so why bother and b) it
meant the animators had a much better feeling for the dialogue and the
characters because they were listening to it in their own language.
25 October
2007
Die drei Räuber grossed $247,000 in its first week on release
in Germany. The film, the first sortie by Animation X, is on release
in 220 cinemas, according to boxofficemojo. Pixar's latest release Ratatouille
has dominated, grossing $6.4m last weekend alone from 860 cinemas. Die
kleine König
Macius has grossed just over $247,000 (not a mistake - just a similar
total) after five weeks. Meanwhile, Lissi und der Wilde Kaiser
is relased today (not last month as previously reported here).
15 October 2007
Rainbow SpA, the Italian animation studio behind Winx Club, is
seeking a flotation on the Milan stock exchange, according to reports.
Proceeds from the sale of 35 per cent of its shares will be used to
fund acquisitions in the UK and France. Rainbow, founded by Iginio Straffi,
is based in Loreto, a small town in the Marche region. The Winx Club
TV series is a huge success in Italy and other markets and Rainbow is
releasing a movie, Winx Club, the Secret of the Lost Kingdom,
on 30th November. Distribution in Italy will be managed by 01, and deals
have also been signed with Quinta in France, Lusomundo in Portugal and
Independent Film in the Benelux.
30 August
2007
This autumn’s release Tous à l’Ouest! (“Go
West!”), the new Lucky Luke feature film in production at Xilam
Animation in France, will be preceded by an Atari computer game. The
game for the Nintendo Wii and DS platforms and PCs will be released
by games company Atari in the autumn before the film hits the cinemas
(5 December in France). Xilam is probably the European studio with most
experience of developing computer game tie-ins for its properties (eg
Space Goofs, Oggy and the Cockroaches). Lucky Luke is
a very different proposition, featuring in comic books, a current TV
series, and several past feature films.
17 July 2007
The Danish Film Institute, and Danish animation studios in generally,
are busy producing four animated features at the moment. Details just
added to the In production page; the first movie, from Dansk Tegnefilm,
out next month and is possibly the first ever cartoon movie about mosquitoes.
In October comes Disco Ormene ("Sunshine Barry & the
Disco Worms") from first-time director Thomas Borch Nielsen. A-Film,
one of Europe's main animation movie companies, is working on Rejsen
til Saturn, which the company's Andres Mastrup says is a political
satire based on an 80s comic book modestly budgeted at €3m. Last
but not least, Anders Morgenthaler who produced last year's Princess,
is already working on Æblet & Ormen ("The Apple
and the Worm"). More news at the extraordinarily good DFI
website.
27 June 2007
US films captured 80 per cent of the market for animated feature
films in Europe. If you count Flushed Away as a US film, the
total was 87 per cent. According to data recently added to the European
Audiovisual Observatory's Lumiere website, the seven US films released
in Europe last year sold 80.1m tickets, with Ice Age 2 the unquestioned
champion with 40.3m sales throughout the old continent. European sales
including Flushed Away were 18m, without 11.4m. It was a good
year for French films, with four movies with French involvement in the
top ten on release.
Top ten animated movie admissions in Europe, 2006 (000s)
Ice Age 2 (Fox)................................. 40,379
Cars (Pixar/Disney)............................. 16,968
Happy Feet (Fox) ............................... 8,177
Flushed Away (Aardman/Dreamworks)..... 6,586
Bambi 2 (Disney) ................................ 3,971
Arthur et les Minimoys (EuropaCorp) ...... 3,507
Monster House (WB) ........................... 3,067
Asterix et les Vikings (A-Film/M6) .......... 2,707
Azur et Asmar (NordOuest/Lucky Red)..... 1,668
Renaissance (Pathe) .............................. 841
Source: Lumiere
6 June
2007
The
producers of Grass Roots: the Movie have struggled to raise the
funding for their project, based on the comic books by Gilbert Shelton.
Despite the impeccable track record of Bristol's Bolex Brothers and
support from the author, an attempt to persuade investors to provide
a cool $22.5m via a rights issue late last year went up in smoke. Film
financiers Ingenious Media were interested but did not want go ahead
in the absence of presales. Now, Bolex Brothers have rethought the budget
and are about to launch a campaign to persuade fans of the strip to
cough up a much-reduced £5m budget. I wish them luck - it's a
risky project but if you don't know the Freak Brothers strips the main
thing is that they are incredibly funny. And utterly incorrect…
Check out the site.
2 June 2007
Das Doppelte Lottchen, the latest Michael Schaak movie, has
grossed €610,000 after three weeks on release in Germany. A relatively
disappointing return given the talent behind the film and the distribution
muscle of Warner Bros. The movie is based on a book by Erich Kaestner
about two girls who look identical and try to find out why.
9 May 2007
Here’s one we missed: Planet One, $50m budgeted computer
animation film, is in production at Ilion Animation Studios in Madrid.
Ilion is a subsidiary of Wisdom Entertainment Group, which also owns
Pyro Studios, makers of the hugely successful Commandos computer game
franchise. Planet One is Ilion’s first threatrical effort
and will be co-produced with Worldwide Biggies, a New York based company
set up by former Nickelodeon programming supremo Albie Hecht. The partners
have hired Joe Stillman, who worked on the three Shrek movies, to write
the screenplay. Production is underway and the movie is planned for
release in the first quarter of 2008.
Thanks to John Hopewell, the Madrid correspondent of Variety,
for letting me know about this (Ilion’s press release came out
in Feb). First thoughts; it’s a massive budget for a European film
(of Arthur and the Minimoys proportions) and at present there is no
distributor lined up on either side of the Atlantic. Furthermore, no
public funding has so far been secured from Spain or Europe.
24 April 2007
Persepolis, the full-length feature based on the graphic novels
of Marjane Satrapi, is one of the films in competition at this year’s
Cannes film festival. The film is about Mariane Satrapi’s experiences
growing up as a young woman in post-revolution Iran. Directed by Satrapi
herself and Vincent Paronnaud, the film is due for release in France
in June. Selection for the annual Cannes blowout is quite a feat given
that this is both directors’ first effort at the big screen. Interestingly
(at least for me) one of the jury members is Orhan Pamuk, whose novel
Snow deals with Islam and veiled women. The festival runs from
16-27 May.
Update: As well as good reviews, Persepolis won the Jury Prize, sharing
the award with Mexican feature Silent Light.
18 April
2007
Xilam Animation and Zinkia Entertainment have started production
on a film version of their Shuriken School TV series. It will
be 75 minutes long and will be completed in August. It's not clear whether
the film will be destined for cinema distribution or whether it will
be sold to broadcasters buying the series (who include Nickelodeon in
the US) and for DVD. Given that it was launched at the Mip TV sales
market in Cannes, non-theatrical seems likely. France's Xilam will handle
worldwide rights except Spain, Italy and Latin America, which will be
managed by the Spanish studio.
Update: Confirmation from Zinkia's publicists: it is a TV/home
video special and will not be released in the cinema.
12 March 2007
The latest Cartoon Movie saw 32 European animated movies presented,
with combined budgets of €286m. In its statement following the
event in Potsdam, which ended on 9 March, the European Union-backed
organisation said that the majority of the projects presented were "3D
adventure films with human protagonists targeted at family audiences"
budgeted "close to €6.8 million". Ten of the 32 projects
presented were completed - the rest were either in development or production.
Combined budgets were €286m, an average of €8.9m per film.
In approach, if not budget, European producers seem to be taking their
cue from Hollywood, though Disney has now decided to go back to hand-drawn
animation with The Frog Princess, which has just started production.
Winners of this year's Cartoon Movie Tributes were Michael Hegner and
Karsten Kiilerich, who shared best director credits for The Ugly
Duckling and Me!. Jørgen Kristiansen; Head of Acquisitions
of Scanbox Denmark, was distributor of the year, and Alphanim, Europool,
Nelvana Internacional and Studio Canal won best producer for Franklin
& The Turtle Lake Treasure.
3 March 2007
The 19 animated films released in the UK last year grossed £134m,
or 16 per cent of the overall box office total. All but three of the
films released were produced in the USA, though one of those (Flushed
Away) was an Aardman production. US market share (even without Flushed
Away) was 92 per cent. The top five were Ice Age 2 (£29.5m),
Happy Feet (£17.7m), Cars (£16.5m), Chicken
Little (£13.7m) and Over the Hedge (£13.1m).
Flushed Away grossed a disappointing £10.4m and Renaissance
only £71,000. The Little Polar Bear 2, released by Warner
Bros, managed a creditable £500,000 and Danish film Terkel
in Trouble a forgettable £3,000. Source of these numbers Nielsen/EDI.
3 February 2007
Last year was a banner year for French animated movies, which accounted
for a third of first-run admissions in 2006. According to an analysis
of admissions numbers published in trade weekly Ecran Total, eight French
productions (and co-productions) accounted for 7.9m admissions, equivalent
to 32.26 per cent of the total of 24.6m. US movies captured 62 per cent
of the market, with Ice Age 2 (6.6m) topping the list. However,
Arthur was second with 4.1m and is still on release, ahead of
Cars and Bambi 2 (2m). Azur et Asmar (1.6m) and
Asterix et les Vikings (1.4m) were next, ahead of Happy Feet
(1m) and Flushed Away (1m).
Arthur, which launched this weekend in the UK, has also
gone down a storm in Spain, grossing €3m after seven weeks. In
Germany, the Luc Besson movie grossed €0.8m in its first week on
release.
31 January 2007
The long-anticipated parting of the ways between Aardman Animations
and Dreamworks Animation was confirmed last Tuesday by the US studio.
A statement said the two companies would end their production agreement,
started in 1999, which spawned three films: Chicken Run, Wallace
& Gromit: the Curse of the Were-Rabbit and Flushed Away.
Originally, the studios were to co-produce five animated movies, but
the US studio was prompted to re-think by the disappointing US box office
of the Wallace and Gromit film (which grossed $56.1m) and Flushed
Away ($40m). It’s now going to concentrate on releasing two
CGI films a year. As for Aardman, co-owners Peter Lord and David Sproxton
said: “(I)t feels like the right time to move on. Aardman has an
ambitious slate of feature film productions in development and we will
announce our future production and distribution plans shortly.”
Update: Aardman has proved that it can crack the US market, and
I do not think the Oscar-laden studio will find it hard to find a replacement
(maybe Miramax or Sony?). But will its upcoming movies benefit from
a similar level of marketing muscle as Dreamworks put behind it? And
will other distributors find British-style humour any easier to sell
to the American masses?
Update: It did not take long for Aardman to pull off a three-year
first look deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment.
This means the US studio will have first refusal for distribution rights
to any new movies from Aardman. What is less clear is a) whether Sony
will have the same US box office expectations as Dreamworks and b) whether
the studio will give Aardman a similar level of financial support as
it enjoyed with its three Dreamworks titles.
31 January 2007
Pèrez, el Ratoncito de tus Sueños ('Perez the Tooth
Mouse') has won the Goya for best animated film of 2006 in Spain. The
movie, co-produced by the Argentinean studio Patagonik with Spain’s
Filmax Animation and Castelao Productions, was released in Spain just
before Christmas. Update: after six weeks, Pèrez
has grossed just over €3m in Spain.
24 January 2007
Forty-one European films with a combined budget of just under €300m
will be presented at next month's CARTOON Movie. The total includes
nine films which have been completed, eight in production, 12 in concept
and another 12 in development. Screenings of completed films include
U, Lotte from Gadgetville and The Ugly Duckling and
Me. Among the studios pitching projects are Hahn Film (School
for Vampires), Les Armateurs (Bedtime Stories Competition)
and A-Film (Journey to Saturn). Complete list is on the CARTOON
website. The 9th CARTOON Movie will take place in Potsdam, Germany on
7-9 March.
8 January 2007
Two European
films made the list for films in contention for the 2007 Academy Awards:
they are the Franco-British Renaissance and Flushed Away,
the latest from Aardman Animations and Dreamworks. Arthur et les
Minimoys, directed by Luc Besson, failed to make the cut because
more than 25 per cent of its running time is live action. In order to
qualify for consideration, movies must have been commercially released
in a cinema in Los Angeles (how international is that?) and run for
at least seven consecutive days. The removal of Arthur means
there are only 15 films in contention and therefore only three will
be on the shortlist to be announced on 23 January. The other 13 films
are: Cars, Ice Age: The Meltdown, Happy Feet, Over
the Hedge, The Ant Bully, Barnyard, Curious George,
Everyone's Hero, Monster House, Open Season, Paprika,
A Scanner Darkly and The Wild.
Update (24 Jan): The shortlist is Cars, Happy Feet
and Monster House.
Update (28 Feb): And the winner is... Happy Feet. Proof,
as if any were needed, that animated movies are no longer a duopoly
of Disney and Dreamworks.
2 January 2007
A busy pre-Christmas
period in France for home-grown movies saw the release of three in December
alone: Luc Besson's Arthur et les Minimoys performed outstandingly
well, with 2.7m admissions in its first two weeks alone, according to
the Allocine website. The movie is based on the director's best-selling
series of books. Preschool-targeted movies Piccolo et Saxo and
Franklin registered 101,000 and 68,000 ticket sales in France
in their first week after a 20 December release. Besson's movie will
be released in the UK as Arthur and the Invisibles on 2 February.
31 December 2006
There were 25 European films released for the first time in Europe
in 2006; 11 of them in the last three months of the year. This site
will publish admissions numbers as soon as they become available. Undoubtedly,
the highlights will include the Norwegian film Slip Jimmy Frij,
which featured in the top 20 for 18 weeks after its release in April
and grossed over €2m. O wie schon ist Panama appears to
have been the strongest local film in Germany, while Ugly Duckling
and Me and Azur et Asmar made a good start in their own territories.
French studios were invloved in nine of the 25 movies released last
year, followed by Denmark (5) and Spain (4).
6 November 2006
Michel Ocelot’s Azur et Asmar was seen by 430,753 in
France in its first seven days on release, and was beaten to the number
one slot only by Open Season from Sony Pictures, which sold 486,750
in its second week (numbers from Screen Daily). Box office for A&A,
distributed by Diaphana Distribution, is already €2.4m. Update
on Germany: O wie schon ist Panama still in the top 15 in
its 6th week on release through Warner Bros and has grossed €1.5m.
Belated update: Ugly Duckling and Me is into its fourth
week on release in Denmark. The film grossed Dkr357,994 (€358,000)
over the weekend of 27-19 Oct and totals €771,430 in the land of
Hans Christian Andersen. Ugly is ahead of The Ant Bully
(€163,384 after three weeks) but behind Over the Hedge (€1.8m
after five weeks).
31 October 2006
Azur et Asmar, directed by Michel Ocelot, was released in
France last week. According to Allociné, it was the most successful
debut of the week, with 10,505 admissions in Paris (from 47 screens).
More info later this week. Meanwhile, Grégoire Solitareff's U
slipped out unheralded by Animation Europe on 11 October. Released through
Gébeka, the film was seen by 37,675 people in its second week,
grossing €264,494. Total gross after two weeks was €445,000.
Update: Das kleine Arscholch slipped out of the top 15
in Germany (and therefore off our radar) last weekend. After two weekends
the film had grossed €730,000. O wie schon ist Panama is
still in the top 15, grossing just under €1.5m.
23 October 2006
A healthy start for Das kleine Arschloch und der Alte Sack in
Germany - the comedy grossed €431,000 in its first four days on
release. The film is the latest from Michael Schaak and TFC Trickompany,
the Hamburg studio behind the successful Werner franchise. But will
the film travel outside German-speaking Europe? Update on O
wie schön... after four weeks, the film has topped €1.2bn
box office. Like London buses, German animated films are all coming
at the same time this quarter.
25 Sept 2006
O wie schön ist Panama grossed €272,000 four days
after its release in Germany (on 21 September). The film, produced by
Papa Löwe Filmproduktion and directed by Martin Otevrel, was released
by Warner Bros. Urmel aus dem Eis was released through Falcom
Media in August and by its fourth week had grossed €3.5m (source:
Screen International). The film, a CGI effort based on a classic cartoon
character, was up against Over the Hedge, released by UIP and
which had grossed €22m after eight weeks, and Cars (€8.5m
after 3 weeks). Also coming up in Germany in the next two months are
TFC Trickompany’s Das kleine Arschloch und der Alte Sack
and the A-Film/Futurikon/Magma Ugly Duckling and Me. In 2005
home-grown titles accounted for 17 per cent of admissions to animated
films in Germany, according to the EAO’s Lumiere website. (This
story was amended on 27 Sept.)
31 July 2006
Renaissance, the black and white sci-fi film written and
directed by Christian Volckman, was released in the UK by Pathé
Films on 28 July. All the reviews I've seen have been favourable, though
the fact the film has been given an English-language soundtrack featuring
Daniel Craig, Romola Garai, Catherine McCormack, Ian Holm and Jonathan
Pryce was not well-received. Difficult choice, though - how many of
the target audience, which I am presuming are young folks and teenagers,
tolerate subtitles? Another reason for the dub decision is probably
the US release through Miramax Films pencilled (or maybe penned) in
for 28th September. Exciting stuff; bummer that I'm off on holiday and
may miss the UK release. The film came out in France in March and registered
225,105 admissions in three weeks.
12 July 2006
Lion's Gate has signed up the North American rights to Happily
N'Ever After, the long-gestating film based on the Grimm Brothers
fairy tales and produced by Berlin Animation Film. The film is set to
be released in the USA on 12 January 2007 (Martin Luther King Day).
Sales agents Odyssey Entertainment report interest in European rights
but no news yet on any release for the film, produced by John (Shrek)
Williams, on this side of the pond.
4 July 2006
Cars, the new Pixar movie, has had a stuttering start in
Europe. The movie opened in France on 14 June and after two weeks racked
up 940,869 admissions. Not very impressive when compared to the 3.9m
admissions for the first two weeks of Ice Age 2 in France, which
was released in April. Cars was released in USA on 9 June and has now
grossed $183m.
Update: Astérix et les Vikings ended up
with 1.336m admissions in France after 8 weeks. Over the Hedge,
released by UIP in 593 UK screens on 30 June, grossed £3,589,038
in its first week. The film comes out in France on 5th July.
30 June 2006
European films enjoyed an extremely successful year in 2005, with
31% of admissions, according to figures collected by the European Audiovisual
Observatory on its LUMIERE
website. Overall, there were 96.9m tickets sold to animated feature
films in 2005; 64.1m tickets were bought for US-produced films, 30.2m
for European films and 2.4m for films made in Japan and Russia. In 2004,
there were 139.5m tickets sold and US films accounted for 95 per cent
of sales, compared to just five per cent for Europe. Important
point: European results were boosted by three films made in
UK animation studios with US money: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
(13m), Valiant (4.7m) and The Corpse Bride (4.4m). But
there were also good results for the UK/FR co production Sprung!
The Magic Roundabout (2.3m) and France’s Kirikou et les
Bêtes Sauvages (1.5m). Top-rated movie was Madagascar
(29.4m) from Dreamworks Animation.
10 June 2006
The "Cristal" award for best feature film went to Renaissance
by Christian Volckmann at the Annecy International Film Festival, which
closed on 9 June. The Festival also saw premieres of full-length features
U by Grégroire Solitareff and Serge Elissade and Piccolo,
Saxo et Compagnie by Eric Guttierez, as well as a preview of Azur
et Asmar by Michel Ocelot. More than 100,000 tickets were sold at the
Festival, held in the scenic Alpine French city. There were 5,700 accredited
professionals including 161 buyers, which makes the Festival easily
the biggest animation event in the vieux continent. MIFA (the market)
attracted 250 exhibitors and 14,000 professionals from 62 countries.
Almost 500 films screened, including 213 in competition from 35 countries.
3 June 2006
French animation studio Xilam is back in profit for the first time
in two years. Net profit in the six months to 28 February 2006 was €519,000,
compared to a loss of €214,000 in the same period one year before.
Turnover was €4.3m, compared to €3.1m in 2004/5. Xilam's bottom
line was lifted by sales of TV series Les Zinzins de l'Espace
(Space Goofs) and Shuriken School. The Parisian company
said it was on track with the production of its feature film Lucky
Luke, Tous à l'Ouest and delivery is expected in summer 2007.
It's also developing a Space Goofs movie with Marseilles' Studio
Action.
29 May 2006
Cars is finally due to roll off the Pixar assembly line into
US cinemas on 9 June. The first film from the studio since its $7bn
acquisition by Walt Disney, Cars will be supported by a promotional
blitz of $50m and will be, Disney hopes, the hit of the summer. Pixar
has been incredibly consistent, and this time the company's founder
John Lasseter is at the helm for the first time since A Bug's Life.
The movie is released first on this side of the Atlantic in France on
14 June. More release dates in Europe here.
23 May 2006
Dreamworks Animation reported disappointing first quarter of 2006
and The Curse of the Were-rabbit was reported to be to blame.
Profits were down 73% to $12.3m and revenues were $60m compared to $167m
in 2005, when Dreamworks was riding high on DVD sales of Shrek 2.
Having greatly enjoyed Were-rabbit myself, and knowing that it
was a big hit here in the UK, I looked up the numbers in box
office mojo. Were-rabbit has so far grossed $192 million;
$56.1m in the USA and $136 million in the rest of the world, including
a staggering $56.5m in the UK.
Forget the massive international BO (Chicken Run grossed $106.8m in the USA and $118m overseas. Were-rabbit was a flop. The knock-on effect of weak US box office is lower DVD sales (3.3 million shipped, said DWA) and the studio doesn't expect to make money. In comparison, the (inferior, in my opinion) Chicken Run raked in worldwide home video revenue of $104.7m (8.9m units).
In an interesting piece here Jim Hill says Dreamworks reckons Americans just did not get British humour. Probably true, but now they are reworking the upcoming Flushed Away to try to make it more palatable and have shelved another planned UK film, Gnomeo and Juliet. Quite rightly, Jim Hill (an American) thinks this is ridiculous. As non-Americans, we are welcome to swell the studios' coffers by going to their films, but our tastes come second.
This is
frustrating given Dreamworks' relationship with Aardman so far. First,
the decision to back the studios' creativity by agreeing to finance
several movies, their success with Chicken Run and their patience
as the follow-up Tortoise vs Hare was still-born and Were-rabbit
took five years to see the light of day. Then their willingness to give
the creatives their head and produce a completely distinctive Wallace
and Gromit film with none of the mid-Atlantic fudge which (for me) spoilt
Chicken Run.
1 May 2006
Astérix
et les Vikings, the latest attempt to bring the Goscinny/Uderzo
comic book series to the big screen, has made a promising start in France.
The film, produced by A-Film in Denmark and M6 Droits Audiovisuelles
France, was ranked second in the French box office with a cumulative
829,085 admissions. This is certainly a good result for the film, which
cost €22m, though you have to set against it the box office for
Ice Age 2 after three weeks on release in France: a cool 4.9 million.
The film premiered in France on 12 April and has already come out in
Belgium and the Netherlands. Next up is Germany (11 May) before the
movie embarking in Viking territory: Finland (19 May) Denmark (2 June)
and Norway (7 July). All admissions numbers from allocine.fr.
Update (23 May): Asterix admissiones were 1.3m up to the week ending
23 May.
29 March 2006
Renaissance came out in France on 15 March, clocking up 225,105 admissions,
according to allocine.fr. The sci-fi
thriller set in Paris in 2054, is written and directed by first-timer
Christian Volckman and was released through Pathé Distibution.
Target audience is young adults, and style is a classy comic book-style
black and white. I missed the screening of the film at Cartoon Movie
earlier this month but you can read the (mixed) reviews on allocine.
Official site is www.renaissance-lefilm.com.
29 March 2006
Aardman
Animation, winners of the OSCAR for the Best animated feature film of
the year for The Curse of the Were-rabbit, continue to tour the
world receiving awards. The film was snubbed by the British Animation
Awards on 9 March - award for best movie went to The Corpse Bride.
However, at Cartoon Movie Aardman was voted best animation producer
and Nick Park and Steve Box were best directors. Sadly, neither of them
turned up in Berlin. There is an element of Buggins'
turn about the Cartoon awards but on this occasion you could hardly
quibble. And Gébéka were worthy recipients of the best
distributor award.
29 March 2006
Cartoon
Movie, held in Potsdam, Germany on 9-11 March was an interesting
event from Animation Europe's point of view. Last time I was here in
2001 the event was somewhat sparsely attended - with producers pitching
tentative and not always very good projects to an audience mostly made
up of other producers and with distributors in short supply. It was
much busier this year, but still a lot of distributors and funders were
missing.
I couldn't see all the movies on offer, but two stood out - The Ugly Duckling and Me from A-Film, Futurkion and Magma is sharp and funny, and should be a big hit if cinema theatres can be bothered to give it the support it deserves. Desmond and the Swamp Barbarian Trap is a very low budget effort from Magnus Carlsson of Happy Life (Robin and Three Friends and Jerry) fame which is appealingly silly. White Fang from Alphanim and Welldone Films looks exciting and I enjoyed Czech studio Maur Film's Filmfarum 2.