El Squibbonator

So apparently, this is a thing now. It's being produced by Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema, and Kenji Kamiyama is scheduled to direct. That fact raises a number of questions. The big one, of course, regards how they're promoting the movie. It's referred to in several articles as an "anime", but it's apparently being produced in-house as a Warner Bros. film, with the only Japanese element being the director himself. Americans, of course, only seem to be accepting of serious, mature adult animation if it is presented under the "anime" label, regardless of whether or not it is genuinely Japanese in origin. So the issue of whether to categorize this movie as an American animated film or an anime is not merely an aesthetic one. It could end up reflecting how it-- and by extension, other animated movies like it-- are perceived by audiences. As for the movie itself, it sounds interesting. I'm a casual Tolkein fan at best, but I'll probably watch it. It's supposedly a standalone movie, so audiences who haven't been deeply invested in LOTR lore can still enjoy it.

Well, I'm wondering if it might end up being this movie. . . EDIT: Never mind, it's a Japanese co-production, so it doesn't really count.

It still begs the question, though-- how big an audience is this movie realistically going to get? Remember, most animated movies from studios like Disney and DreamWorks are as successful as they are because they appeal not just to kids, but to parents as well. With Paw Patrol I'm not seeing that. That's not to say there aren't adults who enjoy it (and if you are one, let me know), but they make up a very small portion of its viewing audience compared to what we would expect of, say, a Pixar movie. And with this movie coming out on Paramount+ the same day it hits theaters, I doubt many parents are going to want to take their kids to a theater to see it when they can just let them see it at home.

The Workshop, the animation studio that made this year's animated action-comedy Frankenstein Jr., is announcing a major shake-up in its release schedule. It was previously planned that The Workshop's Y9 movie would be an adaptation of Brianne Drouhard's webcomic Harpy Gee. However, this movie has been shifted to an unknown later year. Taking its place will be. . . The Furby Movie! "90s nostalgia is all the rage," says The Workshop creative head Anne Sullivan. "People who were kids when Furby was a big hit are having kids of their own now, and this is the perfect time to make a movie to capitalize on that. I don't want this movie to be seen as just a toy commercial-- it's something for the both kids and their parents can enjoy." Be that as it may, The Workshop and Hasbro (manufacturer of the Furby toy) are definitely planning to go all-out in promoting this movie. According to Sullivan, one thing sure to be in demand next Christmas is the all-new Gnarlies, evil twins of the Furbies who love making mischief and playing naughty tricks on people. "The Gnarlies might be the bad guys in the movie, but as far as the toys go, they have an appeal to older kids who aren't into the squeaky-clean side of things." As far as what kind of story could be told about Furbies, Sullivan didn't say much. "All I can say is this. They aren't toys in this version. They're living creatures, and a few very special children around the world get to bond with them. And that's really what the story is about-- it's about that bond. It's about being a family."

Furby (Toys)

The Workshop At The Workshop we believe in the 3 C's-- Cinema, Creativity, and Children. We made our name producing inventive, high-quality film adaptations of kids' properties, with that added dose of humor and action to keep adults interested. While most of our works are adaptations, we also have a number of original movie on our slate. Year 9 Year 10 Projects with a director, but no date Announced films with no director or date

Harpy Gee (Webcomic)

The budget look rather high on this one, judging from the production values. Are they really expecting a massive cinema-going audience of preschoolers?

In addition to its acquisition of the franchise rights to 2000 AD, Fossil Record Productions has announced a new original animated movie, which has not yet entered production. According to the studio, the movie will follow an orphaned pilot whale attempting to find his way back to his pod during the season of the dreaded grindadráp, the Faroese whale hunt in which pilot whales are driven ashore and slaughtered. The movie, tentatively titled Dark Water, is intended partly to raise awareness of the brutality of these hunts. "Imagine if something like Bambi was rated R," says studio head Mark Pierce. "A really hard, serious R rating. It's the story of a baby animal-- a whale, in this case-- growing up in the wild, but it doesn't pull any punches. It's pretty much a horror movie, with us as the unknowable, invincible monsters. It's dark, it's bleak, and it's terrifying, but it looks like an old Disney movie. It's not a comedy either-- it's a commentary on the cruelty of man towards nature." The only teaser image revealed so far is a screenshot of the movie's protagonist, an adorable wide-eyed young whale. Suffice to say, however, that kids won't be asking for any stuffed animals of him . . .

@CAYOMmagazine Fossil Record Productions-- the indie animation outfit that made this year's The Insect God and Funny Business, as well as doing the CGI effects for Walking With Dinosaurs: The Cinematic Experience-- has just gotten its first major franchise contract! Britain-based 2000 AD Comics has reached out to Fossil Record Productions to produce animated film adaptations of its works. So far, films based on Judge Dredd, Flesh, and Strontium Dog have been confirmed to be in development. "We've experimented with live-action movies before, but animation is really the best medium to bring the thrills of 2000 AD to the wider public," a representative of the company said. "Fossil Record has a history of producing high-quality films on time and under budget, at a fraction of the cost of what the bigger studios could do."

Flesh, Strontium Dog, and Judge Dredd-- all from 2000 AD comics.

FYC: The Insect God Best Animated Feature Best Voice Actor/Actress in a Leading Role - David Pryce as Fergus Hartmann Best Voice Actor/Actress in a Supporting Role - Tone Loc as Cyxil Best Use of Action Best Sound Editing Best Original Screenplay Frankenstein Jr. Best Animated Feature Best Voice Actor/Actress in a Leading Role - Hayden Moss as Buzz Conroy Best Voice Actor/Actress in a Supporting Role - Peter Cullen as Frankenstein Jr. Best Visual Effects Best Adapted Screenplay Walking With Dinosaurs Best Documentary Feature Best Visual Effects Funny Business Best Animated Feature Best Ensemble

At least I can take comfort in knowing The Insect God isn't the worst insect-related movie to come out in Y8.

Flightless Bird Walking With Dinosaurs.

I'm flattered that I made it to an honorable mention!

It's animated. CGI, to be exact.

Well, I was confused because you specifically compared Frankenstein Jr. to The Insect God. While I wrote both of those movies, they have no relation to each other within the CAYOM-verse-- they aren't even from the same studios.

Out of curiosity, are you writing these reviews from the perspective of someone in our world, or of someone in the CAYOM world?

Frankenstein Jr. is not a Warner Animation Group film-- it was produced by a fictional studio called The Workshop. CAYOM players are discouraged (though not banned) from using real-world studios, in an effort to create a consistent parallel-universe narrative.

I've been thinking about it.

If you don't mind me asking this question here (if you want me to make a separate thread for it, I'll gladly do so), what might it take to generate an interest in such movies from Hollywood?

That doesn't really tell the complete story. If you just look at the top 50, devoid of context, you'll see that some movies that were very successful in their own time aren't on the list at all. In fact, the only movie on the list from before 2000 is the original The Lion King. More to the point, if we restrict ourselves to only traditional animation, then Demon Slayer is the fourth-highest-grossing traditionally animated movie of all time. As for Demon Slayer itself, I can't really overstate how remarkable its performance is. The only foreign animated movie to have a higher US opening weekend is the first Pokemon movie-- and that was a highly marketable kids' movie that was distributed by a major studio. Demon Slayer is aimed at adults, and distributed by a company that isn't one of the major studios, yet over $19 million worth of Americans watched it in theaters. That means it has the highest US opening weekend of any animated movie this year. Previously, theatrical releases of anime in the united states have been of child-friendly works (i.e. Pokemon) or have been very limited releases. And that brings me back to my original question. Now that Demon Slayer has proven that the market for such movies does, in fact, exist, will American animators step up to the task of making them?

Well, Raya and the Last Dragon had a US opening weekend gross less than half that of Demon Slayer. Make of that what you will.

I think we're all ignoring the elephant in the room here. Demon Slayer's success has proven that there is a large market for theatrically-released adult anime (as opposed to kids' shows like Pokémon) in the United States. Does this mean that American animation studios will be inspired to produce more adult-oriented animated movies that aren't comedies?

Soul won Best Animated. Pixar does it again. In other news, water is wet.