The art of Animation

HOLLYWOOD REEL

Animation film revenues match those garnered by live action movies

The first full-length animated feature film to come out of Hollywood in 1937 was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Russian filmmaking pioneer Sergei Eisenstein called it the "greatest film ever made". It was the top grossing film of its time.

The film was awarded a "special" Academy Award which consisted of one regular sized Oscar and seven smaller sized Oscars. Nearly sixty four years later in October 2001, on the first day of it's DVD release more than 1 million copies were sold.

USA Today computed that if one adjusted for inflation and escalating box-office prices, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' theatrical earnings alone would exceed $6 billion.

Animated features have gained popularity in the recent years, with animation film box-office generating revenues earlier grossed only by live action films. A quick look at the box office of the top 10 Hollywood films reveals that

Dreamworks's, animation film Shrek 2 grossed $ 918.5 million and is the fifth highest grossing film ever. Also in the list are Pixar's Finding Nemo (grossed $864 million) at the tenth position, Disney's Lion King, (grossed $783.8 million) at the sixteenth followed by Pixar's The Incredibles (grossed $631 million) at the twenty fourth position.

Animated films are grossing greater revenues owing to the growing popularity of many of the new animated box office releases. Besides the sales of tickets, a single animated feature film has the ability to generate billions of dollars worth of consumer spending.

Such revenues are derived from marketing campaigns surrounding the theatrical release of the animated film, which, in turn, drive demand for home videos, television, toys, and other film-related merchandise.

This is forcing major Hollywood studios to now compete in the computer animated arena.

Since the release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by Disney, animated films have become one of the most universally enjoyed forms of entertainment. Disney has a long history of developing, producing, and distributing films such as Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King.

Pixar Animation Studios, the Northern California studio co founded by Steve Jobs, has created six of the most successful and beloved animated films of all time: Toy Story (1995); A Bug's Life (1998); Toy Story 2 (1999); Monsters, Inc. (2001); Finding Nemo (2003); and The Incredibles (2004). Pixar's six films have earned more than $3 billion at the worldwide box office to date. Pixar's next film release is Cars (June 9, 2006).

The other big studio in animated features is DreamWorks Animation which was launched in October 1994 as a business division of DreamWorks Studios. It was the brainchild of Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, who in 1997, formed a joint venture with Pacific Data Images to produce their first computer-generated animated film, Antz.

Subsequently, in 2000, Dreamworks acquired a controlling stake in Pacific Data Images. It's recent release Madagascar crossed the $ 100 million mark on only its 10th day in release. In the fall of 2005, DreamWorks will release Wallace and Gromit, a US UK co-production, Over the Hedge, featuring the voice of Bruce Willis and in 2007 the next episode of Shrek. The studio currently has nine films in various stages of development.

The Hollywood studios have got out of the traditional two dimensional, hand-drawn animation and devoted their efforts principally to developing and producing computer generated animated feature films.

The quality and cost of animation is getting better due to the outsourcing model where the actual animation work is digitally sent to cheaper animation houses in Asia and India resulting in high frame rates at lower costs.

Overseas animation houses are chosen on a per episode, or even per scene basis. The writing, character design, and storyboarding are still done in California. India which produces the largest number of live action features in the world is now gearing up to get into the animated feature film business.

Meanwhile, the Academy Awards created a special category for Best Animated Feature in 2001 and since then Shrek, Spirited Away, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles have been the winners of the Oscar.

Animation is truly the wave of the future...

The writer is the President and CEO of Lall Entertainment and can be contacted at
lallentertainment@hotmail.com