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When asked if I would write a short article for the newly refurbished CGCHAR, I quickly responded with how honored I was and that I’d get right on it. Okay, not really. In all honesty, I really didn’t have time, but because it’s hard for me to say “no” -- here I am! The Year of the Toon! I hereby proclaim that 2006 is the year of the animated feature toon. It is only mid June and we have already seen Cars, Over The Hedge, Ice Age 2, Doogal, and The Wild. Okay, who are we kidding? No one really saw Doogal or The Wild. Nonetheless, they were released and help make up this mega year of toons.
While at the theater to watch Cars, there must have been 5 trailers for animated films. Even I, someone working in the business, had seen enough. On the good-looking list were Ratatouille and Open Season. Meet The Robinson’s had very nice production quality, but when the trailer was up against Open Season and even Barnyard, it just didn’t get any interest from me. It fell flat. The audience didn’t seem to giggle once. It was not funny when compared to the others. Although I still want to see the film, if the trailer was my first exposure to the flick, I would be passing on this one. Barnyard got a lot of laughs. The production quality looks just okay, but more importantly, it got the out loud giggles. That is a good sign. Most people don’t care about how slick it does or doesn’t look. People will remember Barnyard. The Ant Bully looked completely washed out. The colors were weak and they blended in with each other. Not only was this an opinion of mine, but I actually heard someone behind me comment as well! Adding fuel to the fire, the audience didn’t laugh much with this film, if at all. I predict it won’t do very well. Barnyard should get more bang for its advertising buck. Flushed Away wasn’t shown, but this is another film to be released later this year. Again, DreamWorks is making a film that probably won’t be a huge hit. I predict even less BO than Over The Hedge. The flood of animated films this year could be a problem for many studios. I’m not saying it is doom and gloom. Just that many of these companies are not going to survive. My prediction is that neither Ant Bully, Everyone’s Hero, nor Barnyard will do very well in ticket sales. Robinson’s will do fine with Walt Disney’s marketing muscle. However, it will be more on the scale of Chicken Little’s success. Open Season will do well. I think this one could be the winner of those left to release. By winner, I don’t mean Finding Nemo BO, more in lines with Ice Age 2. DNA has already let go most of their production crew. If The Ant Bully doesn’t do very well as I predict, they could be having a hard time getting another project in the very near term. Omation is in the same boat with regards to Barnyard. Most everyone is already gone; they probably won’t be doing another film either. However, I’m not sure Omation was ever set up with that intent. IDTE and their film, Everyone’s Hero is another of those wild cards. I don’t expect the film to be very successful. However, this company has such deep pockets, that won’t stop them. They’ll be back for another try. Staloren works in the animation industry as a consultant. His blog "The Business of Animation" can be found here .
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