Earlier this week saw the debut of the first episode of Bruce Timm and Alan Burnett‘s Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles, a prelude series of webisodes that will lead up to the full-length film being released towards the end of July (and my guess, probably debuting at SDCC).
The first episode was a pretty dark affair that focused on Michael C. Hall‘s vampire Batman as he tries to take out Harley Quinn. The newest entry, released yesterday, takes a look at the new Superman, voiced by Benjamin Bratt, as he battles Brainiac.
Witness a divergent reality where the Justice League protects the planet – but answers to no one but themselves. Employing methods of intimidation and fear, this Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman deal brute force in the name of justice. From the creative genius of executive producer Bruce Timm and co-producer Alan Burnett comes an original story where the world’s greatest triumvirate of super heroes has distinctly different origins. Superman was not raised by the Kents in Smallville, the Caped Crusader is not Bruce Wayne, and Wonder Woman is not an Amazon warrior of Themyscira. They are as likely the world’s saviors as Earth’s despotic rulers. When a group of famed scientists experience untimely “accidents,” a government task force follows the trail of clues to the Justice League – but is there a more powerful player operating from the shadows? It’s a high stakes game of intrigue, mystery and action that asks the question: How do you serve justice to those above the law?
Among the juicier dramas surrounding the production of the megahit Despicable Me 2 is Al Pacino’s sudden departure from the film. Six weeks before the film’s premiere at Annecy, Pacino quit the film as the voice of the antagonist El Macho. Neither side will say what happening, simply citing ‘creative differences.’
At that point, the production was nearly finished and the animation had already been locked. This sent Illumination head Chris Meledandri scrambling to find a replacement, which turned out to be Benjamin Bratt. Since no new animation could be created at that late stage, Bratt re-recorded the dialogue by matching the existing animation, and in true Hollywood fashion, they fixed it all in post.
The controversy serves as a perfect case study for one of the long-running debates in the animation world, which is whether celebrities make any box office impact on the success or failure of an animated feature.
Back in the early-1990s, when Robin Williams provided the voice of the Genie in Aladdin, he earned scale pay for his performance, which was less than $100,000, so it hardly mattered whether celebrities affected the bottomline. But today, celebrities demand lucrative fees for their voices and drive film budgets up by tens of millions of dollars. Owen Wilson took home $2.5 million for Cars 2, Cameron Diaz had a $10 million payday for Shrek Forever After and Tom Hanks earned a reported $15 million for Toy Story 3.
What would happen if you took a celebrity out of one of these films? Would audiences still show up? That’s exactly what happened with Despicable Me 2. The result? It was the fourth-biggest opening ever for an animated feature in the United States.
Those who create animation know the reality: audiences don’t go see animated features because Al Pacino is in it. They go see animated films because they want to be entertained, and the quality of the animation performance and storytelling are far bigger factors than who voices any particular character. The most popular characters in Despicable Me 2, the minions, are voiced by two no-name French actors—Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin. They’re not well known actors because they were the directors of the film.
The celebrity culture of animated features won’t change anytime soon. Studios believe that they derive benefits from having A-listers in films because audiences love celebrities. But there’s no empirical evidence that audiences are attracted to famous voices in the same way that they are attracted to seeing those actors in the flesh.
Still, celebrities do play one hugely important role in the animation process. They pad the egos of fragile animation executives who would otherwise be embarrassed to tell people they produce animation. At Hollywood parties, these execs can tout to their friends that they, too, are working with A-list Hollywood stars. Because after all, who would want to tell their friends that the stars of their hit film is two French dudes named Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin?
Watch:
Did you watch it? If not, do it now.
I'm not easily given to profuse out-loud exclamations like OMG or WOW, but this trailer prompted me to do just that. THIS IS AMAZING!
The film is based on Richard Van Camp's outstanding YA novel,
The Lesser Blessed. For some years now, I knew it was going to be made into a movie, and.... well, I'm at a loss for words. I wish I could see it TODAY. It was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month.
Film critic and columnist Kim Voynar
said The Lesser Blessed is a "must see coming-of-age story about an aboriginal teen struggling to stand up against a golden-boy bully." Movie critic Peter Howell of
The Toronto Star said it is one of the films in this year's festival in which a "rebel spirit" is seen in which Canadian filmmakers seem to be intent on "breaking as many rules as possible."
Want to know more about the film? Go to its website:
The Lesser Blessed.
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Haven't read The Lesser Blessed?
Do it today.
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And you best read the book (if you haven't yet)! I've written about it several times, including listing it in a
Focus On column I wrote for
School Library Journal in 2008.
If you're teaching his novel, see how a university professor works with it in
Teaching Van Camp's The Lesser Blessed. Waiting... for my chance to see
The Lesser Blessed... Will be hard.
June 4th 6pm EXCLUSIVE RECEPTION with special guest Benjamin BrattReception includes: Low riders, old school music, delicious food and of course, Benjamin Bratt!7pm LA MISSION screening $25/TICKET (includes reception and movie)AMC 24 HIGHLANDS RANCH 103 Centennial Blvd, Littleton, CO 80129TEATRO PREGONES IN ALOHA BORICUA
The journey to Hawaii in the early 1900's set to contemporary music -- reggaeton, plena, pop, rock.
June 10th, 11th and 12th at 7:30pm
$18 General, $15 Stu/Sen, $12 for groups over 12 people
Presented at the Denver Civic Theatre 721 Santa Fe, Denver, CO
12th ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL LATINO BOOK AWARDS
Congratulations to all those who received recognition from the International Latino Book Awards, presented May 25 at BookExpo America. You can see the complete list of honorees at this link.
A special tip of the ole sombrero to fellow bloguero René Colato Lainez for Rene Has Two Last Names/René tiene dos appellidos (Arte Público Press), which received Honorable Mention in the Best Children's Picture Book (Bilingual) category; and to good friends Rudolfo Anaya for 2d Place for The Essays (University of Oklahoma Press) in the Best Biography (English) category, and Lucha Corpi, who won the award for Best Mystery Novel (English) for Death at Solstice (Arte Público Press.)
“Bomb” actually reminded me a lot of the segment of the JLU episode “Epilogue” with Batman and the psychic-child version of Ace of the Royal Flush Gang.
I have never had a huge interest when it came to superman, but this was something I did not expect. I realize that the dark and grim/gritty aesthetic is not for everyone, but I do like this ! It’s a much more realistic superman. FYI it’s just my opinion.
Timm should be in charge of DC. Simply put, he gets the feel of these characters so well that even these reimagined riffs get the essence right. In 6 minutes! Impressive economy of means.
awesome..I agree with solo500…as much as I have enjoyed the Marvel movies..DC animations are still the best..shame they can’t movies as good..