Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Why Animation Thrives -- Part X

Catching up on what the hell's been going on in animation land, I run across this (from a week ago):

International Ticket Sales:

1. "Skyfall," $156 million.

2. "Paranormal Activity 4," $14.3 million.

3. "Hotel Transylvania," $13.7 million.

4. "Wreck-It Ralph," $12 million.

5. "Madagascar 3," $7.9 million.


6. "A Werewolf Boy," $7.5 million.

7. "Asterlix and Obelix: God Save Britannia" $6.8 million.

8. "The Bourne Legacy," $6.7 million.

9. "Taken 2," $6.2 million.

10. "Frankenweenie," $5.3 million.

Of the ten movies listed above, four were animated. And one, Asterlix and Obelix, was a live-action film based on a French comic book.

I've been working in and around the cartoon biz for a healthy chunk of my adult life, and there is one thing I've figured out about our fine, entertainment conglomerates. When they're holding winning hands and running the table, they don't change their methods of doing business a whole lot.

Animated features return more on investment than any other kind of theatrical film. That's why Fox, Disney, and Sony (among others) stay in the business. Animation is an expensive business to get into. Even Chris Meledandri (of Illumination Entertainment) with his studio in Paris, spends a bunch of money. And Blue Sky Animation, with its tax rebates and non-union work force, spends $90+ million per film.

No, the reason that so many companies frolic in Cartoonland is because, if they make a quality feature, they can open their own mint. So lots of them give it a shot.

1 comments:

Floyd Norman said...

Naturally, there's no sure thing in Hollywood. However, animation is the closest thing there is in returning your investment and a tidy profit.

Live-action on the other hand is a crap shoot. Too bad animation workers don't command the scratch their live-action counterparts rake in.

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