Studios' bet on animation is paying off

When I looked at the 2006 release schedule, my thought was, "Too many animated films." Apparently, I was wrong.

Three of the top ten films and five of the top 25 in 2006 are animated. There have been misses like Doogal (Weinstein Company) and The Ant Bully (Warner Bros), but seven animated films have surpassed $50 million this year. Here's the scorecard.

After watching David Leaf and John Scheinfeld's crisply-executed The US vs. John Lennon (Lionsgate), I was left asking, "Who, in our celebrity-crazy culture, is his heir? Is there a left-leaning celeb who puts a legitimate scare into our current Republican administration?" Sadly, there is no heir, and despite a brief flare-up between Bush and the Dixie Chicks, most of our activist actors and musical artists don't hold much sway over the left, center or right.

John Lennon was a once-in-a-lifetime talent and personality. As co-writer/director Scheinfeld told me, "Lennon had the ability to digest complex issues and boil them down into simple statements" That allowed him to connect with a generation in ways that George Clooney and Barbra Streisand do not. As a result, the Nixon Administration viewed him as dangerous.

The famed screenwriter William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Princess Bride) once wrote about Hollywood, "Nobody knows anything."

Truer words never spoken.

On the surface, the game seems simple enough. Pick the best films, win the game. But how, oh how are we supposed to figure out which films will be the best, Tom?

It's been a big couple weeks for Mr. George Lucas. The Star Wars movies were released again on DVD, and he was named Grand Marshall for the next Tournament of Roses parade. He also received several photos of me wearing only an ewok mask, but the less I say about that, the less the courts will have to work with.

Anyhow, in all this Lucas-mania, I read a short interview where the grand Jedi himself believes that in the next 10 years, the mega-Hollywood blockbuster will be dead, and the average cost of a motion picture will be down to around $15 million.

A long way back when movies still surprised me, I went to the twelve-hundred seat Avco Cinema in Westwood, California that had been the first theater on the West Coast to be equipped with THX (for Return of the Jedi) to see a film that for the life of me I can't remember. But I do remember the trailer that preceded it. It was the first trailer I remember being booed.

Obnoxious, loud, murky and cheaper looking than the shoddy Schwarzenegger actioners of the mid-eighties (remember Commando?) it featured the pouchy, balding star of a canceled TV show running around in a tank top, screaming, sweating, spraying bullets, and sprinting through endless explosions, chased by a militant German anarchist. When a portentous voice-over promised, "It will blow you through the back of the theater," someone yelled "It BLOWS!" I think it was me. By that time, the audience had been whistling, jeering and rolling in the aisles for a full minute.

On the website, we currently offer each studio the ability to add any un-owned film which has yet to open in the theaters on a first come-first served basis. (Although no studio may have more than six films on their slate at one time so in order to add a film, you must drop one first.)

However, there is an alternative that you can do if you want. It involves a budget and bidding on unowned movies. The benefit is that every studio gets a shot at every free agent movie. The down side is it does not reward those who are quickest to the website. There is strategy involved with the bidding and nominating process which adds to complexity of the game, but it is more involved and you need to have a commish that is on the ball.

This past Tuesday, the original unaltered Star Wars movies were released on DVD. Of course I ran out, bought them, watched them, showered with them, rewatched them, and was all set to write a column all about them. But as I sat down to type, I just can't bring myself to do it.

There's been way too much discussion of these DVD's online and on TV shows. Everyone's made their point. Personally, I think the fanboys need to cool their jets with their anger towards Mr. Lucas. In a sentence - I'm perfectly fine owning the original unaltered versions in non-anamorphic, non-cleaned up, non-3-D or whatever. We all know these DVD's will come out someday on HD (or Blu-Ray), and that's when I'll worry about having a crystal clear picture for these originals.

This past Tuesday, the original unaltered Star Wars movies were released on DVD. Of course I ran out, bought them, watched them, showered with them, rewatched them, and was all set to write a column all about them. But as I sat down to type, I just can't bring myself to do it.

There's been way too much discussion of these DVD's online and on TV shows. Everyone's made their point. Personally, I think the fanboys need to cool their jets with their anger towards Mr. Lucas. In a sentence - I'm perfectly fine owning the original unaltered versions in non-anamorphic, non-cleaned up, non-3-D or whatever. We all know these DVD's will come out someday on HD (or Blu-Ray), and that's when I'll worry about having a crystal clear picture for these originals.

Welcome to the Fantasy Moguls.com Draft Kit! I am your host, Mr. Roark.

And while I do not have the pleasure of Herve Villechaize's company or nearly enough rich, Corinthian leather, let me be the first to extend a warm hand and wry smile as you embark on a journey that may seem familiar, but exists in a slightly alternate universe.

FantasyMoguls.com is a fantasy league...for movies. Like Fantasy Football or Rotisserie Baseball, FantasyMoguls.com allows you to become a, er, mogul, and run your own Hollywood Movie Studio.

As you prepare for your first ever Fantasy Moguls Draft, I thought I would take this opportunity to let you know that there are certain things you can surmise about how a film will perform, even if the only thing you know is its release date.

This is a relatively new concept. The studios discovered that a certain genre of film, released on a particular weekend can reap hefty box office returns. Sure, the studios have always released the largest number of films (and their biggest offerings) in the "Summer" or "Holiday" period, but over the last decade or so, through trial and error, studios are 'finding an audience' where they did not know one previously existed.