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Today we look at the work of John Nevarez, Cartoon Brew's Artist of the Day!

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We stopped by the Time To Play showcase to see what was new for the holiday season this year and learned about some exciting new products hitting the market in time for gifting. We noticed a few overarching trends as well, like the ability to... Read the rest of this post

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It may or may not win any Oscars, but the Disney Company has announced that Pixar’s Cars 2 is the highest earning animated feature of the year.

Cars 2 opened in June 24th and earned $189 million domestically. It’s made $548 million total to date when combined with all international box office figures. Disney claims the film is now the 16th highest-grossing animated film in “global cinematic history”.

This is, of course, before the release of some heavy hitters from Dreamworks, Aardman and Spielberg to come, not to mention Happy Feet 2. It’ll be interesting to see how things shake out and who’ll come out on top at years end.

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Cartoon Brew: Leading the Animation Conversation | Permalink | No comment | Post tags: Cars 2

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Winnie the Pooh, Disney’s first hand-drawn animated feature since 2009’s The Princess and the Frog, opened in 6th place with an estimated $8 million dollars. Cars 2, another Disney release, pocketed $8.3M (est.) in its fourth weekend, good enough for a 5th place finish and an overall gross of $165.3M. Below are the openings for the other recent films in the Pooh franchise:

The Tigger Movie (2000): $9.4M
Piglet’s Big Movie (2003): $6M
Pooh’s Heffalump Movie (2005): $5.8M

The film’s reason for existence has nothing to do with box office, however. Like Cars 2, it appears to be a corporate obligation first and foremost. Winnie the Pooh is the second-largest character franchise in the world, earning $5.7 billion in revenue last year. To put that into perspective, Pooh earned more in 2010 than the combined Toy Story and Cars franchises, which are the fifth and sixth highest-earning character franchises.

The world’s most valuable franchise is Disney’s Mickey Mouse, which took in $9 billion last year. If the company’s approach to its other top-earning franchises like Pooh, Cars and Toy Story is any indication, could a Mickey Mouse feature be that far off?

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Cartoon Brew: Leading the Animation Conversation | Permalink | 3 comments | Post tags: Cars 2, Winnie the Pooh

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Last weekend, Cars 2 grossed $15.2 million boosting its total to $148.8 million. The film is currently on a pace to be one of Pixar’s lowest grossing films, and it will almost certainly be the studio’s least-attended film ever in the United States. Cars 2 is performing better overseas than its predecessor with $121.6 million to date, breaking Disney’s opening record in Argentina with $3.3 million and accruing $21.1 million to date in Mexico.

The film appears to be following a similar trajectory to a recent sequel from another studio, Kung Fu Panda 2, which also failed to meet US expectations but performed respectably overseas. Kung Fu Panda 2 has brought in just $159.3 million in the US after eight weekends, which puts it in the range of Shark Tale’s 2004 gross. The $400 million from overseas softens the blow, but the message is clear: 3-D or not, audiences in the US are tired of animated sequels that don’t have anything new to offer. That may not be good news for Happy Feet 2 which opens in a few months.

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Cartoon Brew: Leading the Animation Conversation | Permalink | 4 comments | Post tags: Cars 2, Kung Fu Panda 2

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Variety loved it. Maltin hated it. What did you think?

Me? I set the bar pretty low and wasn’t as disappointed as I thought I’d be. On the plus side, this is one slick piece of family entertainment, with visual opulence to spare. Great action sequences and yeah, even a few laughs. On the downside, the story (Pixar’s usual strong suit) was surprisingly cliche. For this film, you have to buy into the world of “Cars” or you might as well go home. There isn’t the emotional pull of the previous several Pixar blockbusters, and no relatable characters – just regional stereotypes (and several annoying ones at that). Oh, and be sure to understand that this is a “Mater” Movie. He’s the star, not Lightning McQueen.

The spy stuff is fun, but I couldn’t help wondering if this story would’ve been more fun if it were enacted by human characters. My biggest disappointment: Cars 2 feels like the first Pixar picture aimed at children exclusively. Before, audiences were delighted that a Pixar family film could be so sophisticated. Here, Pixar’s made a children’s film first, with numerous references to things children won’t understand.

There’s an old Hollywood saying I just made up: “When in doubt have a character fall into a tub of shit”. Nice to see Pixar include such a scene here. Here’s my prediction: this film will get Pixar’s poorest critical reception, and it’ll be Pixar’s all-time biggest moneymaker.

So, is it the “Best Cars movie Ever?” or has Cars run out of gas? Now its your turn. Only readers who’ve seen the film can post their opinions below.

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An article in Monday’s Wall Street Journal deemed Cars 2 a Hit Already—in Stores. The article made it clear that the franchise earns an obscene amount of money for Pixar’s parent company, Disney, and that basically means they’re going to continue making sequels and spin-offs until the cows come home (or until kids stop buying crap related to the film, whichever comes first).

Below are some of the key facts and financial figures from the WSJ piece:

* Disney believes it is on track to sell more tie-in merchandise with Cars 2 than any single previous film. The current record holder, Toy Story 3, sold $2.8 billion (yes, with a B) worth of merchandise last year.

* A yearly average of $2 billion worth of Cars merchandise has been sold since the release of the first Cars in 2006.

* Disney Consumer Products initially wondered what everyday products for boys could be branded with Cars before they realized, “All of them,” in the words of division chairman Andy Mooney.

* Cars earned $2.5 billion in revenue last year making it was the sixth most valuable character franchise in 2010. The top five were Mickey Mouse ($9 billion), Winnie the Pooh ($5.7 billion), Disney princesses ($4.4 billion), Toy Story ($2.8 billion), and Barbie ($2.7 billion).

* Disney’s average royalty rate for products licensed with the Cars characters is estimated to be between 10-13%.

* The new Cars has an estimated production cost of just under $200 million, which is slightly cheaper than Toy Story 3’s production cost.

* The “World of Cars Online” role-playing game launched last year is considered to be a flop, and in the words of Bob Iger, needs “retooling.”

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Here are several new publications that were sent my way during the past month that I think Cartoon Brew readers will like, or love, or at worst you should be aware they exist:

100 Animated Feature Films by Andrew Osmond (BFI/Palgrave Macmillan) is a great read. The animated feature is just coming into its own after decades of following one vision – that of the Walt Disney studio. Now that there are several strong voices to emerge in this medium, British film journalist Osmond has rounded up one hundred notable international animated features, studio and independent, to discuss, compare and contrast. This isn’t a “best-of” list, but a representative selection of worthwhile films culled from the first ninety five years of full-length animated movies. An important book for students of animation history – and anyone wanting to read intelligent commentary on where the field has come, and where its headed.

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The Art of Kung Fu Panda 2 by Tracey Miller-Zarneke (Insight Editions). Whatever your opinion of Kung Fu Panda 2, one thing is undeniable: the artwork, art direction, character designs, color keys and all things visual are simply superb. Just based on “looks” this may be the best animated film of the year. We’ll see, but in the meantime Tracey Miller-Zarneke’s book lays it all out and gives credit where credit is due. Raymond Zibach, Nicholas Marlet, and Bill Kaufman are among the dozens of artists work given the lavish “art-book” treatment here – and their work deserves it. And you deserve to own this souvenir of Dreamworks’ summer blockbuster.

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Archie: A Celebration of America’s Favorite Teenagers by Craig Yoe, designed by Clizia Gussoni (IDW Publishing). Do we really need another book about Archie? The answer is YES, if Yoe and his wife Clizia are behind it. There’s been several recent compilation volumes devoted to Archie comics, from Dark Horse, IDW and Archie Publications itself, but this is THE BEST one. This is actually the only book about Archie you really need, as it covers everything about the Riverdale characters, their origins, the artists, writers, the nooks and crannies, including the coolest, rarest art, promotional pieces, photographs… the whole shebang! Yoe has a great chapter about Archie on radio, TV and animated cartoons, another highlighting oddball Archie merchandising – and in another part of the book, he offers a rare printing, off the original art, of the unpublished 1952 Andy Andrews, a serious detective story featuring Archie’s previously unknown cousin! It’s one of those books (like my Hanna Barbera Treasury) that you need to see – and when you see it, you’ll buy it. I love this book – take it from me, it’s really great. Highly Recommended!

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If so, Huggies has some “training pants” for you.

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