Please contact us
with corrections
or breaking news
Bay Area Animation by Karl Cohen
Scene from Pixar's new film, 'Inside Out', due out in June. Illo: courtesy Pixar
Pixar’s 'Inside Out' Praised at CinemaCon
The Hollywood Reporter said “Inside Out” earned “immediate praise for its smart storyline" at CinemaCon, an annual Los Vegas trade show for theatre owners where new films and products are promoted.
The film, which goes inside the head of a young girl, and finds five different emotions, joy, anger, disgust, fear and sadness, running their 11-year old host will world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and open theatrically on June 19th.
”Inside Out” is Pixar’s first release since summer 2013. This year Disney will also release Pixar’s “The Good Dinosaur” on Nov. 25. There will be no film from Disney Animation Studios in 2015. Indeed, their next product will be “Zootopia,” opening March 4, 2016.
At CinemaCon Disney also showed trailers for “Tomorrowland” directed by Brad Bird (Opening May 22), “Ant-Man” (Opening July 17), “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” (Opening Dec. 18) and “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” (Opening May 1).
The theatre owners who saw “Inside Out” were also treated to their first glimpse of Dolby Vision, from the SF-based company, which describes it as “a new high dynamic range (HDR) projection system which provides greater contrast and a wider color gamut.”
“Tomorrowland” and “Inside Out” will be the first movies released in that format which could help make 2015 Disney’s most profitable year ever!
MediaMation Brings Motion to Theaters
A fun-sounding product on display in recently in Las Vegas' CinemanCon was the 4D theater from MediaMation. Their MX4D Motion EFX theatre “includes moving seats, air/water blasts and other special effects. There are about 100 theatres in the world that feature this system. Upcoming releases in the MediaMation format include “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Tomorrowland,” “Poltergeist,” “San Andreas” and “Mad Max: Fury Road.”
Did John Lasseter’s Artists Infringe a Copyright?
A lawsuit claims that a trailer for “Frozen” was inspired by part of a short by Kelly Wilson. Wilson brought his copyright lawsuit against Disney in March 2014 based on his claims that the “Frozen” trailer was substantially similar to his short 2D computer-animated film “The Snowman”, where a snowman battles a gang of hungry rabbits trying to eat his carrot nose.
Since two attempts by Disney to have a judge dismiss the suit have failed, the case could go to trial in October. Wilson claims that Pixar/Disney artists saw his film at a festival prior to the trailer being animated.
Bummer! Help Find The Cartoon Art Museum A New Home
The museum tell us they got a notice to vacate so they will be closing its doors at 655 Mission Street on Sunday, June 28. They just celebrated their 30th anniversary. Their long term lease expired, the rent went up and the landlord would rather get more money from another tenant than support a cultural institution.
Cinesource wishes them well and hopes they can find a great location that is affordable. Know of such a location? Let them know (415) 227-8666, extension #313, or email director .
Dali meets Disney might seem incongruous until you view 'Fantasia' (1940). Illo: S. Dali
Dali Comes to Disney
An exhibit of the surrealist artist and walking performance piece Salvador Dali is coming to the Walt Disney Family Museum in the Presidio. They will exhibit “Disney and Dalí: Architects of the Imagination” July 10, 2015 through January 3. It will then go on display at the Dalí Museum in Florida from late January through June 2016.
Animation Festival Comes to Berkeley
The Glas Animation Festival is coming to Berkeley in March 2016. The festival has announced several programs on their website along with their call for entries. http://www.glasanimation.com
Chapman Comes to Zynga
Brenda Chapman, who directed “Prince of Egypt” (1988), will present "Story and Technology" on Thursday, May 14th. Chapman joined Pixar in 2003 where she created, wrote and directed “Brave” (Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe winner).
Brenda Chapman, director of Pixar's 'Brave' (2013), on opening night, in full costume, in front of her heroine. Illo: courtesy B. Chapman
She is currently developing projects for Chapman Lima Productions, Inc., with Kevin Lima. The event begins at 6:30 PM with a social hour (drinks and snacks provided). The presentation is at 7:30. Zynga Theater - 699 8th St, San Francisco, CA 94103 Online registration is required; San Francisco ACM SIGGRAPH members $7, $15 for public.
Call For Animated Films
Join us for our 4th annual ASIFA-SF spring show. They are accepting entries from college students, independent and professional animators. Membership in ASIFA-SF is not required. They prefer shorts under 9 minutes. Send your DVD by May 26th to ASIFA-SF at 478 Frederick, SF CA 94117. If the work isn’t finished write us what to expect. Late entries will be accepted. No entry fee.
The celebration is on Thursday, June 11, 7 PM at Dolby Labs, 100 Potrero Ave. SF. Program will end with a screening of 35mm prints of animated classics. .
Animating Comics 2015 is an exhibit that runs from May 2 – Oct. 15 at Charles Schultz
Museum. It honors the 50th anniversary of the first Peanut’s TV specials and the 70+ specials that followed. The Charles Schultz Museum is located at 2301 Harding Road, Santa Rosa, CA. http://www.schultzmuseum.org
Praising with Feint Damn: Animation at the Oscars
What does winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature really mean when most of the voters don’t take animation that seriously? While there are 300 to 400 Academy members in the animation division, the final judging is made by all Academy members, about 6,000 people.
In February the Hollywood Reporter asked seven voting members to comment on the ballot. It turned out the comments made about animation were disturbing to me, suggesting the voters were not too interested in understanding that animation can be more than good for a few laughs.
Two abstained from voting for that category, one voted for “Big Hero 6” because his kids found it funny, and another voted for that film because he or she hadn’t seen “Dragon 2.” That person wrote, “If I was just voting for animation, I’d have gone with ‘Boxtrolls,’ but since you have to consider everything I went with ‘Big Hero 6.’ (Not sure what everything is – studio hype, best reviews, etc.?)
Another person wanted to vote for “Lego” because it “hit all the right chords” and was successful at the box office. That person was pissed that “Lego” wasn’t nominated, but they nominated “two obscure Chinese fucking things” (none of the films were Chinese).
Another also liked “Lego,” but since it wasn’t nominated they voted for “Big Hero 6.” The final voter went for “Dragon” because it was “superbly entertaining.” None mentioned animation’s ability to tell a story, be a great art for or be technically brilliant. None saw that animation can contain meaningful content or be a great art form—meanwhile it has become one of the biggest sectors of the film business.
Poor Jeffrey
Jeffrey Katzenberg took a 53% pay cut In 2014, a tumultuous year for his company, DreamWorks Animation. Jeffrey reduced his pay to $6.4 million (he made $13.5 million in 2013).
Why? Shares of DreamWorks’ stock dropped 37 percent in value in 2014 and there were massive layoffs, write-downs and he fired his entire staff at his studio in the Bay Area.
The Hollywood Reporter said, “Katzenberg has criticized himself for perhaps focusing too much on acquisitions and expansion and not enough on the core business of quality theatrical releases for family audiences.” The studio’s recent flops include “Penguins of Madagascar,” “Turbo,” “Mr. Peabody & Sherman” and “Rise of the Guardians.”
This year the company raised cash by selling its Glendale campus for $185 million and then leasing it back. Other DreamWorks administrators took serious salary cuts, but all were still making two or three million dollars for the year.
Germany Boycotts Disney
In an unusual development, German theatre owners who control 686 screens refuse to show “Avengers: Age Of Ultron.” Apparently Disney got greedy and upped their share of the gate from the standard 47.7% to 53%. They are also cutting their advertising budget for the film and will not provide advances for 3D glasses.
A spokesperson for German theaters told the press, "We are worried, particularly about eastern Germany. When prices go up, then we have a serious problem that could force movie theaters to close." Disney told the Hollywood Reporter, "We don't discuss the negotiations that we are engaged in with our partners in exhibition." The film opened in Europe a week before the US release.
Karl Cohen is an animator, educator and director of the local chapter of the International Animation Society and can be reached .