August Animation Tidbits

More tidbits for ya...

Planes once again proves that animated films that don't have much adult appeal won't fare too, too well. Planes is unabashedly a children's film, so it didn't set the box office on fire over the weekend unlike something like Monsters University or Despicable Me 2. You know, animation that's both for kids and adults.

But others (such as are ever-so-accurate press) would lead you to believe that Turbo, The Smurfs 2 and Planes underperformed because there's "too much animation", implying that people are getting sick of feature animation... No, they are getting sick of bland animation and animation that's aimed at kids only... Plus, with all these films opening so close to each other, families got super-choosy. I hope this summer teaches distributors a lesson: Don't open so many animated films so close to each other. 2 or 3 is fine, but 5 or more? A big no-no.

Opening with a small $22 million, Planes already made Disney very happy since the film only cost $50 million to produce. Plus, it's bound to make a good amount overseas given some foreign locations they cover in this film. All I can say is... Ehhhhhhhhhh. Why oh why does the sequel have to be a theatrical release?

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DreamWorks, in a rather surprising move, pushed their highly anticipated How To Train Your Dragon 2 a week forward. The film is now set to open on June 13, 2014, but honestly... I can kind of see Kung Fu Panda 2 happening all over again. Sort of.

If you remember, Paramount and DreamWorks for some reason felt that the sequel to their 2008 blockbuster would put up a good fight against The Hangover Part II. But what happened? The teens and adults flocked to The Hangover Part II, leaving Kung Fu Panda 2 to rely on family audiences and those who have no interest in The Hangover franchise... The result was a very disappointing $47 million opening while The Hangover Part II took in $85 million for the weekend. Its opening was certainly no major take off, especially when you consider that its predecessor opened 3 years earlier with $60 million... Without 3D ticket prices!

What opens the same weekend as How To Train Your Dragon 2? 22 Jump Street...

Let's see... A sequel to a sleeper hit R-rated comedy? Need I say more?

How To Train Your Dragon 2's opening may not be spectacular unless Fox plays their cards right. The teaser for this was fabulous, unlike the lazy "staring contest" teaser for Kung Fu Panda 2. Its official trailer better deliver and make audiences want to see it opening weekend, because Kung Fu Panda 2's underwhelming trailers and marketing didn't succeed in doing that. Hopefully Fox's marketing shows audiences why they should definitely see DreamWorks' epic sequel to their very good film and make the audiences think, "Hmmm... Yeah I'll see that instead of 22 Jump Street!"

I mean, this is supposed to be a very big follow-up to the leggy original. The original was lucky to have many weeks all to itself, so that the incredibly strong word-of-mouth was able to help the film climb to $200 million at the domestic box office. This sequel underperforming and making less would be terrible, especially since it's supposed to be like the series' Empire Strikes Back. I wouldn't doubt that, because DreamWorks went the darker route for their sequel to Kung Fu Panda but yet the poor handled of that stalled it from doing better than its predecessor at the box office. Let's hope the same mistakes aren't made again with this sequel, because DreamWorks needs a big hit and I don't quite think Mr. Peabody & Sherman will be a box office bonanza.

But apparently Fox and DreamWorks are confident in this, so it's possible that the dragons may outwit the cops that summer weekend. Personally, I think these poor choices of release dates are what's are partially killing most animated films these days. (Bolt and Winnie the Pooh, anyone?)

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On the home media front, we got word of the postponed Tom and Jerry Golden Collection Volume 2 set. In case you didn't know, this series was meant to give us - the animation enthusiast - the complete, fully uncensored collection of the entire Tom and Jerry filmography from the Golden Age to the post-Hanna-Barbera films. Volume 1 delivered the goods and then some, everything on there was uncensored and there were even a couple lovely bonus features.

But this upcoming set is a disaster in the making. Warner Bros. legal department will not allow two particular Tom and Jerry cartoons to be released in any form. The problem is, both are supposed to be on Volume Two since the series is going in chronological order. Mouse Cleaning and Casanova Cat are the two shorts in question. The legal department want to avoid a PR nightmare, but they are hypocrites because Warner Bros. has released material that's just as offensive for general consumers, from the uncensored Looney Tunes collections to the uncensored Popeye sets to the first volume of this series... And they all have warnings saying that they're for the "adult collector", and they also give viewers an explanation of the content in these films: Again, some of the certain gags in these shorts are offensive, but censoring them out is just as offensive. They're a part of history. The first set and all their other adult-oriented cartoon collections from Warner make this very, very clear.

However, WB's legal department doesn't want these two particular shorts to see the light of day for some probably stupid reason, not even through the WB Archive, thus contradicting everything the other sets stood for. So we can't have those two shorts on an "adult collector" set, but yet we can have other offensive material. The legal department apparently thinks that we're children or something.

Let that all sink in for a minute...

PR nightmare, alright. They created a new one just by playing this game with us. We're adults, we know why these cartoons are the way are, so stop trying to hide them from us when you've released other equally offensive cartoons to general consumers, general consumers! Anyone who has seen Mouse Cleaning and Casanova Cat will tell you that they are no more offensive than The Milky Waif and The Truce Hurts, or any other Tom and Jerry cartoon with a blackface gag that's readily available uncensored in the US for general consumers. Warner Home Video really wants all of these pieces of history to be released, but no, the legal department has something against those two particular shorts...

Anyways, this pointless and unfair censorship lead to (much-deserved) backlash, and it's made the news, too! The set was then postponed, though a December 17th date somehow got out there. Jerry Beck (in case you don't know, he's a great animation historian and has worked on many of these sets, including this one) appeared on Stu's Show not too long ago. The set was brought up and he outright confirmed that WB's legal department is giving Warner Home Video trouble, and they're not going to let those two cartoons see any form of release in America (note: They're available uncensored in the UK). He says that we shouldn't expect the set until 2014 at the least. I'm not holding my breath for a complete set.

Insert rant here...

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Speaking of home media, on October 15th, the surprisingly very good and well-written Disney Channel animated series Gravity Falls will be hitting some form of home media... Unfortunately, it's a DVD-only release with six episodes. "Six Strange Tales"... Yeah, because we can't have our full season just yet. Or ever, maybe... Given Disney's track record when it comes to these things.

If Warner Bros. and Cartoon Network can give us the full seasons of shows like Adventure Time and Regular Show, Disney can damn well do the same for Gravity Falls. Heck, where are the full season sets for Phineas and Ferb?! What they're failing to realize is that like those two Cartoon Network shows, Gravity Falls has a teenaged and adult fanbase that makes it very successful. People would also scoop up a season boxset of Phineas and Ferb, from families to fans to many others. However, it is possible that this is a set geared towards the kids and that they're saving the goods for the fans. (Making this show an exception to their TV shows on home media business model.)

Well, maybe. Here's hoping they do the same for TRON: Uprising, since they did a good job sending that show to the grave. At least Blu-ray sales or the fact that it's on Netflix could gain the series new fans... Though the third TRON film doesn't seem to be a go anytime soon. Director Joseph Kosinski has signed on to direct The Twilight Zone movie. Looks like that franchise is slowing down once again...

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Animated Views recently interviewed Jimmy Hayward and Aron Warner. Hayward, as you may know, is the director of Reel FX Creative Studios' debut theatrical feature-length animated film Free Birds (formerly known as Turkeys), which will hit theaters on November 1st. Warner is a big-time producer, and he's well-known for producing the Shrek films, as Free Birds' fun trailer mentions.

Hayward talked about some of its production history, and also said that the film's plot is "all in good fun" and that they aren't trying to send some PETA-esque "don't eat turkey" message. (Phew!) He also explained the title change, saying that they wanted something that would have international appeal. Then he also explained the release date change, the movie was pretty much in the can last summer and November 2014 was too much of a family film mine (Big Hero 6, Home, Night at the Museum 3, etc.)

Warner talked about Reel FX's plans, things I speculated about months ago. I'm in support of this studio because they've got risky things planned for the future (Hayward himself elaborated on that), and they also plan on spending reasonable budgets on their films. Hmmmm, maybe other studios should follow suit, yes? For the record, Free Birds has pretty good-looking animation if you ask me. See, I like this idea. Lower budgets mean greater risks can be taken, LAIKA and Aardman don't thrive for nothing.

He also mentioned a few things about Jorge Guiterrez's Book of Life...

"The movie is unlike any computer animated film I’ve ever seen. It looks different; it feels different; it sounds different. It’s definitely Jorge’s – it is so much a project from this guy’s heart."

Now see? That's what studios should be doing, making lower budget films that take some major-league creative risks. Book of Life might just change the industry if Free Birds is a hit, and prove that good computer animation can be done for less than $100 million and it doesn't have to come from someone like Disney, Pixar or DreamWorks. Again, Free Birds looks fun despite some formulaic elements, but it's a safer film for a reason. It's the debut, it's the kick-off feature. Safe film first, risks later!

No word on Beasts of Burden, though...

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What do you think of Reel FX? Do you think the studio has a lot of potential? Do you anticipate what they have to offer? Do you think Disney will eventually give us season box sets of shows like Gravity Falls, Phineas and Ferb and TRON: Uprising? Do you think Warner Home Video will triumph over the legal department? Or will they lose and all we'll end up getting is a censored set? Do you think DreamWorks and Fox moving How To Train Your Dragon 2 up a week was a good idea, or not?

Sound off below!

A "Tom and Jerry" Update

Warner Bros. might be listening to us animation fans after all...

Of course, as many of you may know, Tom and Jerry Golden Collection Volume Two was to arrive to stores this summer but without two controversial cartoons: Mouse Cleaning and Casanova Cat. This was, of course, contradictory to the fact that the series was aimed at the adult collector and not for children, and that the series would contain all of the short subjects uncut. A representative for WB went as far as justifying the removal of the two cartoons on WB Classic Animation's Facebook page, saying that they were "inappropriate" for the "intended audience" - the adult collector. We sure got angry. Blog posts, forum posts and even close to 100 one-star reviews of the forthcoming set on Amazon.com ensued... Us animation fans weren't going to be robbed like this, especially after what we got with the excellent first volume.

What we know so far is that a higher up in Warner Bros.' legal department doesn't want these two shorts released in any form, not even through the WB Archive! Apparently this person has been there for a while and has something against these cartoons, I mean... Why else would Warner Bros. release equally controversial and potentially offensive cartoons in the Tom and Jerry, Looney Tunes, Merrie Melodies and Popeye series on home media formats whilst keeping these two and the Censored 11 locked up?

All hope seemed lost. It looked like we were not going to get these two uncensored cartoons on Blu-ray and DVD in the United States, but... TV Shows On DVD has confirmed that Warner Bros. has postponed the second volume of this series! This makes sense, because Home Theater Forum owner Ronald Epstein collected questions from animation aficionados and sent them to Warner Bros. Apparently they had a meeting about these cartoons, so maybe the postponement of this set may bring good things. However, we can't get our hopes up too high... Yet.

Anything can happen now...

Here's my theory: Warner Bros. (or more specifically, that person in their legal department) will drop all of this opposition to Mouse Cleaning and Casanova Cat. Thus, those two cartoons will be added to the line-up and the packaging will be altered. It'll say 44 shorts instead of 42, or the last 2 cartoons on the set (chronologically) - Puppy Tale and Posse Cat - will be left off for time constraints and will be the opening shorts on the third Golden Collection volume. The liner notes will mention both formerly missing cartoons. This is of course the win-win situation, the one everyone hopes will happen. Well, it better happen!

Why do I think it might happen? Well, WB announced that the set was postponed after those questions were sent... Plus it came off of a slew of negative reactions. I haven't seen such reaction to a home media release in a long while. Tom and Jerry Golden Collection Volume One has less than 40 reviews in total on Amazon.com, Tom and Jerry Golden Collection Volume Two has nearly 100 one-star reviews warning consumers to stay away from the butchered set whilst also calling WB out for their unnecessary censoring of a set that's meant for adults.

Also, WB can't just re-insert the shorts between now and June 11th, or make liner notes mentioning them. It's also possible that Mouse Cleaning and/or Casanova Cat had audio commentaries, so it'll take some time to put those back in as well. So maybe the delay does mean that WB gets it.

Now it's also possible that we will end up getting the butchered set later this year, which would only anger fans more resulting in a bigger backlash. The fans are now willing to give WB a chance to correct the mistakes they have made, and to not omit Mouse Cleaning and Casanova Cat from this set. If a new announcement for the set shows that the two cartoons won't be in the line-up... Well then, expect more heat, WB! And weaker sales, too!

Right now, we have no clear idea why the set was postponed. All we can do is speculate right now, but personally, I'm going to try to be optimistic here and believe that WB delayed the set to do the right thing: Include Mouse Cleaning and Casanova Cat, and never attempt to censor this set or any forthcoming adult collector set (whether it's Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies or Popeye) ever again.

Hopefully everything will turn out alright. If Tom and Jerry Golden Collection Volume Two arrives to stores complete and uncensored with Mouse Cleaning and Casanova Cat, then... Immediate sale!

News Roundup: LEGO Update, Tom and Jerry, and More Disney Blu-rays

Looks like some more animation news has come over the last forty eight hours!

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Warner Bros. has officially unveiled the new title and the logo for their upcoming animated film based on LEGO.

Yes, the film is now called The LEGO Movie. The logo looks pretty sweet if you ask me, though I did kind of like LEGO: The Motion Picture. Oh well, this one is simple and it works. Definitely looking forward to seeing the trailer for this Phil Lord-Chris Miller film... It should be right around the corner!

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Speaking of Warner Bros., it looks we're getting some answers concerning Tom and Jerry Golden Collection Volume Two, which is coming to Blu-ray and DVD on June 11th. Of course, as you all know, two full cartoons were omitted from the upcoming set due to potentially offensive material - despite the fact that the first volume and this release are intended for the "adult collector".

Animation historian and Cartoon Research author Jerry Beck, who was closely involved with the first volume and other Warner Bros. classic animation releases, was interviewed on Stu's Show last night. He has confirmed that Warner Bros.' home entertainment division has listened to our complaints and they are on the same page as we are. The higher ups at the company are responsible for the removal of the two cartoons. So does this mean that CEO Kevin Tsujihara, a suck-up to the powerful force of political correctness, was responsible for this along with the other bigwigs? Seems like it!

During the show, the idea of releasing classic cartoons through distributors like Shout! Factory was brought up... What if Warner Bros. sublicensed their classic animation to them for adult collector releases? That would work, because the company can release the sanitized versions of Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry for general consumers, while the smaller company gives us the goods.

One can only hope...

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Last but not least, Disney has added three more animated classics to their Blu-ray release schedule. Remember how Atlantis: The Lost Empire was supposed to come out on March 12th? Well now it's coming out on June 11th alongside... The Emperor's New Groove and Lilo & Stitch!

But you know me... I won't be buying them, because they'll be packaged with their direct-to-video sequels. Lilo & Stitch's pack will contain Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch, so I assume the other two direct-to-video Stitch films will get a double pack later this year. But still... Packaging The Emperor's New Groove with Kronk's New Groove... Just NO.

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What's your take on the new title for Warner Bros.' LEGO film? Do you think there's still a possibility that we'll get Tom and Jerry Golden Collection Volume Two uncensored? Are you excited that those three Disney films are getting a Blu-ray release? Or will you avoid them because they have the sequels included?

Sound off below!

Don't Censor Me!

Back in 2011, Warner Bros. released what I would call a definitive set for the legendary Tom and Jerry series. Called the "Golden Collection", the first volume presented the first 37 theatrical shorts, beautifully restored and all uncensored in their original format. All the questionable humor and gags were present. To top it off, there was a warning that you couldn't skip that wonderfully explained why the cartoons have that potentially offensive material and why it's absolutely wrong to censor them.

This was a great set for us animation aficionados. It wasn't aimed at young audiences or the whole family, it was aimed at us. The adult collector, as the back of the case says. You can only imagine how pumped I was for the next couple of volumes, because they were going to include everything uncensored. Then they were going to include all of the post-1958 shorts as well! The complete Tom and Jerry series on Blu-ray!

Volume Two has been on and off for years. A few times, Warner Bros. announced release dates for it, but it never happened. Now it's on track for a June 11th release, but the shorts line-up that was released a while back was curiously missing two short subjects: Mouse Cleaning and Casanova Cat. Both films contain blackface gags, Mouse Cleaning's gag is especially notorious. However, the blackface gags on these two short subjects are no more offensive than similar gags that we saw in the shorts that are on the first volume. For a while, it seemed like this list was not official and was just a mistake... After all, the original nitrate elements of Mouse Cleaning had been found and lots of work had been done to restore it, but... Warner Bros. recently put this on their Classic WB Animation Facebook page as a reply to fans who were questioning whether the next volume would in fact be sanitized or not.

Condescending and just plain wrong...

This contradicts the whole idea of the Golden Collection. Why go through all the trouble of restoring all the offensive content and making an impassable warning for the beginning of the disc for the first volume, only to omit two entire shorts from the second volume because of the content? It's not just edited versions of those cartoons we are getting, we're not getting them at all. If that's so, will the other shorts on the set be the television edits where Mammy Two-Shoes' voice is re-dubbed? This is a total atrocity and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment ought to be ashamed.

Inappropriate for the intended audience? Warner Bros., who are you to deem this content inappropriate for us? The very audience that understands that these cartoons were made during a different time... Again, you went through all the trouble of restoring these "offensive" shorts and putting a big warning at the beginning of disc... Now you sanitize Volume Two, remove two shorts entirely and say that they might be "inappropriate" for us?! Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, you have made a massive mistake and you have also insulted us animation aficionados who admire this series and are mature enough to understand what was going on during the 1940s and why this racial humor was in some the cartoons.

Maybe I shouldn't be surprised, but after all the effort that was put into the first volume, you wouldn't think that Warner Bros. would just all of sudden go against their plans and also talk down the collectors who buy these sets...

I just hope Warner Bros. didn't get cold feet over the first volume and are now making Volume Two suitable for the PC crowd. Again, the first volume was strictly intended for adult collectors. The packaging itself says so, there's a warning at the beginning of the disc... Why follow that up with a sanitized set? It makes no sense on any level.

Now if this was a kid-oriented set with the edited versions, that would be one thing, but again; this is a follow-up to an adult-oriented set. It's not only a slap in the face to the audience it's intended for, but it's just censorship ruling the day once again.

Warner Bros., if you were smart, you wouldn't go through with a censored set that's a follow-up to an uncensored adult's set. It's a rip-off and an insult to us, the buyers. It only pushes the belief that these cartoons are nothing more than children's films, when that's definitely not true. It feeds into a greater evil. Censorship is so selective. Certain things can't be shown, but it's totally alright if something else that's equally offensive is shown. Need I bring up Disney's reluctance to release Song of the South, yet they happily release Peter Pan complete with the controversial depictions of Native Americans?

Unfortunately, we live in a world where cartoons and animated works are immediately labelled "kid's stuff". Disney and Pixar are already victims of this, and everyone else. Classic Warner Bros., Fleischer and MGM shorts? All perceived as kid's stuff. It's easier to release older live action films with potentially offensive material, or films that are unabashedly offensive (Birth of a Nation, anyone?), but since animation is viewed as a babysitter, it's not okay. Far too often, home media releases of animation caters to parents who are looking for something to keep their children busy for an hour or two. The belief is what's at the core of this problem. Warner Bros. probably wants to sell units, rather than putting a lot of money into a set that only collectors are going to buy. But hey, Disney did it with the Walt Disney Treasures sets and they continued to make many.

There's still the fact that the first collection and the recent Looney Tunes sets have the offensive material on them. It just further proves that it makes no logical sense to omit two full shorts from a set all because of a single gag in each. It's like releasing a controversial film on home media uncut, and releasing its equally controversial sequel in censored form. Makes... No... Sense...

Now there's also a possibility that the two shorts will show up on a third volume, but if they show up uncensored, then it wouldn't make sense to leave them off of this upcoming set. It leads me to believe that whenever they will show up, they'll be sanitized. It also leads me to believe that all the shorts on this collection will be sanitized as well.

Luckily, animation fanatics are raising hell about this. Go to the set's Amazon page and see all the one-star reviews convincing consumers not to buy it. Fans have also raised hell on other forums and they have responded to the terribly condescending reply from WB Classic Animation on their Facebook page. Let your voice be heard!

Once again, censorship and ignorance towards the animated medium is going to rule the day here. The existence of an adults-only "Golden Collection" of one of the greatest cartoon series in cinema history was fun while it lasted...

Note: This article originally went up on February 13, 2013. It was taken down since the press release with the list of shorts seemed like a mistake... Now it's official, those two shorts will be omitted from the set...