Will Disney buy DWA? No! Universal did!

[Ben]

I think JP was talking about live-action directors who had been Oscar nominated (not like that should really be any kind of distinction).

And if you want to get technical, live-action directors have been hopping between mediums for years, even since the 1920s. To mention someone more recent, and on our current radar, Watership Down was only directed by Martin Rosen when the original director hadn't delivered what was needed, so he stepped in.

[Jpcase]

And Zack Snyder's and George Miller's, who everyone (including me) tends to forget.

When I first read this I thought "Oh yeah, Happy Feet - forgot about that one", but then I remembered that George Miller has never actually been Oscar-nominated as a director (Chris Noonan directed Babe, which is another fact that I always tend to forget). I'm not entirely sure why Zack Snyder's name got mentioned.

I think JP was talking about live-action directors who had been Oscar nominated (not like that should really be any kind of distinction).

Yes, as I mentioned, Reitman moving into animation is only a very minor landmark - we've had acclaimed live-action filmmakers doing animation for a while, so it's not the biggest deal. As far as this being a historic moment, I was basically just thinking along the lines of this being the first time that an (non-motion capture) animated film's promo could potentially boast about the film "being brought to you by the Oscar-nominated director of..." Not that the trailers or posters of Beekle are necessarily going to highlight that point. But the fact that they could seems like an important move towards Western animation being taken more seriously.

Of course, I'm well aware that I may be eating my words a few years from now. Beekle might be awful. But unlike Eric, I love Fantastic Mr. Fox and Where the Wild Things Are, so I've got my hopes that Reitman will manage to bring a rarely seen level of sophistication to DreamWorks. Comparing his involvement to Seinfeld's on Bee Movie seems off base. There's a huge difference between the starring actor of a film and the director.

I find it kind of ironic and amusing to have landed in the role of optimist on this one, as I fear I've mostly been a voice of criticism in my short time on these boards. I guess the reason that I tend to be hard on movies is because I feel that anything could be great. I was one of the few people who actually got excited when Pixar announced Cars 2, not because I loved the first one (it was okay), but because I saw the sequel as an opportunity for Pixar to improve upon their one weak effort and "redeem" the series if you will. My mantra is that there's no such thing as a bad story, just bad storytelling.

[ShyViolet]

DWA, Oriental DreamWorks and Chinese partners all betting big on KFP 3:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/en ... tml#page=1

I really hope this film is a turning point. DWA needs all the help it can get!

[Ben]

Word is that DWA is basically making the film, and ODW is essentially just adjusting the mouth movements for the Mandarin Chinese version...as well, it seems, to contributing some cultural input.

[ShyViolet]

60 second Chinese KFP 3 trailer leaked online:

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/kung-fu-panda- ... ts-1506033

Looks much better than I expected! I think DWA finally has a real hit on their hands!

[Daniel]

Not able to view the vid, just shows an exclamation point inside a circle. Oh well, pictures will suffice for now!

Villain looks pretty wicked. Reminds me of Mulan's with the hair and buffness. Providing it's not a dream, so glad we're getting a Po and Oogway scene! The show touched upon this in an episode, although Po didn't technically talk to the real Oogway. Good episode still and it was made all the more special because the original VA returned.

[ShyViolet]

Not really in favor of POE stage show. What exactly is the point? One of if not the best thing about the film is its spectacular use of traditional animation--the colors, shadows, camera work, fluidity--they all make it the classic that it is. Why mess with that? The only thing that might be interesting is if they expand the story to include more of Moses' and Rameses' childhoods together--something the film really needed, as good as it was. And leaving out everything from the forty years in the desert plus barely including a shot of Moses carrying the two tablets/Torah down from mount Sinai--all this could be somewhat rectified if the stage show decided to include some of these things.

Still--POE is a little dated at this point, much as I love it. It's basically a product of 90s Disney, a wonderful era but not one that should be resurrected only because the studio is in such dire need of a guaranteed hit.

[Dacey]

Psssst. Vi, we have a thread for this.

[ShyViolet]

DWA campus sold again: (this time for 30 million more).

http://www.latimes.com/business/realest ... story.html

Plus, at least they're doing something with those Classic Media characters:

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/fashion/drea ... 16422.html

[Ben]

Well, at least they made something out of the deal...would have looked silly if JK could have got $30m more for it than he did, but to get 50% of a future sake was smart.

As for Classic Media (now DreamWorks Classics), well...not only are those designs absolute crap but no-one's going to buy them for those prices. Heck, even with the characters NOT ruined with black bars over their eyes and the like, I still wouldn't pay that much for what is essentially a bit of retro clothing.

Yeah, they're doing SOMEthing with their classic properties: making them very unpopular!

Ugh...

[Dacey]

Is there any reason DreamWorks hasn't used Masters of the Universe for a feature? I mean I know a live-action movie is supposedly in the works, but that never seems to go anywhere. And that's a great property with a lot of potential for animation with a budget, which would set it apart from the original cartoons, where He-Man, bless his testosterone-fueled heart, barely moved.

[ShyViolet]

LOL. Unfortunately you can say that about pretty much every 80s cartoon hero.

[Ben]

If the live-action version, whatever its status, is under option, this would prohibit DWA from being able to adapt the property, at least until the option lapses. I don't think we'll see a MOTU feature from them even then: the company generates its own original material in-house (or at least options unfamiliar properties) and then there's the issue that it's primarily a toy franchise...something that I think could make DWs look "tacky" and that I think JK would certainly wish to avoid until the studio is back on its strongest legs!

[EricJ]

Is there any reason DreamWorks hasn't used Masters of the Universe for a feature? I mean I know a live-action movie is supposedly in the works, but that never seems to go anywhere. And that's a great property with a lot of potential for animation with a budget, which would set it apart from the original cartoons, where He-Man, bless his testosterone-fueled heart, barely moved.

It was the same problem Golan/Globus had:
The toy characters were owned by Mattel (and the developers), the cartoon is owned by Filmation (and their current owners).
Menachem Golan, with his usual cheery all-in dive into something he didn't know about, made the 1987 movie by buying the rights to the toys, which meant that all the cartoon canon, like Cringer and Prince Adam, couldn't appear in the movie, and Orko had to be replaced by that annoying Billy Barty character.

If DWA has the cartoon series through Classic Media but not the toys, they might seem to have the reverse problem.

[ShyViolet]

JK getting more hands-on with the filmmaking process at DWA:

http://animationguildblog.blogspot.com/ ... y.html?m=1

Hope this means they decide to take more risks artistically...although this could mean the precise opposite of that.