The state and future of animation

[GeffreyDrogon]

But wasn't Dennis Hopper a very famous actor? How didn't his death affect Alpha and Omega's box office like what Heath Ledger's death did with The Dark Knight and Paul Walker with Furious 7?

[Ben]

Because Dennis Hopper was a washed up actor who did the first season of 24 as a favor to try and keep his brand alive. None of the fans who remembered who he was wanted to see him in a crap animated movie. They wanted more Black Velvet.

And those other films were massive hits because they were much better films than A&O, which was just program filler. Let's move on now, please…

[GeffreyDrogon]

What do you all think of Genndy Tartakovsky, especially the series Samurai Jack? I've been watching it lately, and I really think that show is good. What do you all think of it?

[Randall]

SJ's stories are simple, but the animation and design work is so stylish and fun that it carries the show easily. Two thumbs way up.

[GeffreyDrogon]

I agree. Sadly to say, I never grew up on a lot of animated series from Cartoon Network, because my family is quite religious and conservative.

[EricJ]

SJ's stories are simple, but the animation and design work is so stylish and fun that it carries the show easily. Two thumbs way up.

Although an "in-joke" parody episode of Duck Dodgers poking fun at Tartakovsky's near-racist weebo attempt at a "Japanese" vibe (which was the big thing back in the early 00's, when a lot of poseur toon fans wanted to look hip enough to be then-underground anime fans) was a lot more cathartically fun than it MEANT to be.
The SJ episode where Tartakovsky tried vainly to convince toon fans that he was hip enough to have heard of Totoro just got...cold, staring slow shakes of the head from real anime fans.

Granted, this was back in the days when Cartoon Network's animators literally didn't know whether to homage anime, or to high-school bully it as the ridiculous looking nerd-trend of the day. And ended up trying to do both, although the original Teen Titans was more on the Fangirl Homage side.

[GeffreyDrogon]

I remember "Samurai Quack", especially the off-brand Aku clone voiced by the late Makoto Iwematsu himself.

[GeffreyDrogon]

Why do some small-studio animated films not do well despite being well-received by audiences, like Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return and My Little Pony: The Movie? One was based on a well-known property, and the other was based on a well-known animated series? They also got A- scores on CinemaScore, so why didn't they do well?

[GeffreyDrogon]

Why hasn't John H. Williams and his Vanguard Animation studio been successful, despite him having experience as a producer and him having produced many animated films?

[Ben]

Small films have trouble getting distribution. Some films, that become cult favorites, have ravenously dedicated audiences that will praise a film sky-high, but that audience is small, and not enough to power a film to commercial success. I think that Pony made an absolutely fine showing when it was released as an independent film.

In the case of Vanguard, it’s mostly because those films are awful, not much better than DTV titles. There’s a reason that Williams' other (better) films share multiple producers and other, more widely recognised creatives' input.

[GeffreyDrogon]

Why aren't producers are as fitting as filmmakers? Didn't George Lucas produce movies and also create Star Wars?

[Ben]

Producers are just humans. I’m sure you know some humans that are good at some things, not good at others…

Yes, Lucas created Star Wars, but LOTS of people outside of his control helped him make the Original Trilogy what it was. When left to his own devices, such as as a producer of his own work or others, you get the Prequel Trilogy and some films that, while they may have become cult hits, did not find an audience on initial release.

End of the day…THERE IS NO RHYME OR REASON TO ANY OF THIS!!

[GeffreyDrogon]

It's strange that weak animated movies like The Animated Film With Talking Wolves That Must Not Be Named and The Emoji Movie got submitted to the Oscars and lost, but animated films like those tend to fill up the Casting Society of America's Artios Awards category for animation.

[GeffreyDrogon]

A reason I like Samurai Jack is not only because of the characters, but also the creativity used in the simple art. I think that the character designs are interesting for a cheaply animated show whose first four seasons' animation hasn't aged well.

[GeffreyDrogon]

What do you think will happen to Studio Ghibli? Hayao Miyazaki is getting old, and why can't they find someone younger to lead the company?