OT - article on the economics of animated movies

Diomede

thought some folks might find this interesting.

The two scariest words for Hollywood studios in 2016: animated movie

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/2016/03/18/the-two-scariest-words-for-hollywood-studios-in-2016-animated-movie.html

 

In particular, the article suggests that on the animation production side, the two places to focus on for costs are water and hair.  Would be interested if anyone has thoughts on the points made in the article.

Steve K

 " ... the sticky-fingered masses demand A-list actors in animated fare, if only for their voices."  I agree voices like Tom Hanks and Tim Allen in the "Toy Story" series are a big factor.  (Billy Crystal turned down the Buzz Lightyear part and regretted it.)  But I don't think its essential to have A-listers.  E.g. the babysitter's voice in "Jack Jack Attack" is an animator at Pixar and is great:

http://pixar.wikia.com/wiki/Bret_Parker

WendyLuvsCatz

Well water and hair are indeed the hardest things to get right as we all know, those carrara hair sims and fighting with metaballs and particles is enough to bring one to tears.

PhilW

So an animated feature cost around $1m per minute? I am massively undercharging!

mikael-aronsson

It is expensive, that's why they still do stop motion movies to some extent, it's about half the price.

But I think that is people cost and time, they use a gazillion number of people for feature animations, there are people just creating shaders, artists making texture image maps, it never ends, have a peek at the credits for any feature animation, it goes on forever, and of course the famous stars that do the voices want a lots of money, it's even more people now compared to the good old cel animation days.

Disney's Cinderella had 50 animators, Toy Story only 30, but about 60 more people to do other tings related to animation, rigging, lighting and so on, but I might be wrong there, the credits for Nightmare Before Christmas visual effects department is long as an arm, I think 50 people or something like that (modern stop motion has way too much visual effects).

I guess the render farms cost a few dollars also.

I love the old Check stop motion series Kuťáci, Pat a Mat, they have an aquarium with fishes swimming in there and they use thing threads to animate the fishes, no post, done on film, it takes a lot to spot the threads.

 

 

 

Dartanbeck

Steve K said:

 " ... the sticky-fingered masses demand A-list actors in animated fare, if only for their voices."  I agree voices like Tom Hanks and Tim Allen in the "Toy Story" series are a big factor.  (Billy Crystal turned down the Buzz Lightyear part and regretted it.)  But I don't think its essential to have A-listers.  E.g. the babysitter's voice in "Jack Jack Attack" is an animator at Pixar and is great:
http://pixar.wikia.com/wiki/Bret_Parker

Agreed. In fact, some great voice actors might just leave you thinking that you're actually hearing somebody else!

Ever hear of James Arnold Taylor?

Some of the folks who read audio books are amazing as well!