Animation

I know this is 6 months later, but Zootopia 2 just made $818 Mil on opening weekend, beating Superman's entire cinema run earnings. I just think Elio was not marketed well and it came out around the same time as another movie about a child and her alien friend (Lilo and Stitch). While that is live action and might at a glance prove your point, we have to remember that material based on already popular content will always attract a bigger audience.

I think Elio suffered from poor marketing, which also include timing of its release.

Kevin Jackson I think similar but it's also, and this is something tha happens to me, I feel that every movie is too safe, they all feel the same not like a huge surprise. I think, personaly that movies, specialy animated need to recover that unpredictability factor to actually feel like a real adventure.

I agree Alex Olguin I find that these days everything has to follow a formula, but you still have to create a surprise in it, and I feel like the formulaic structures make everything too predictable. I can literally see "Save The Cat" in amost everything I watch. You can literally set your clock to the beats "Oh here comes the dark night of the soul at the 75% mark".

I love movies like Onward where in the end they don't fully get what they want, but they get what they need. Far too often animated films always have to end with the character getting exactly what they want in a clean happy ending.

Hey, Matthew Wach. DragXon is like a dragon and dragonfly mixed. And it can break sound barriers. Unique creature.

There are a lot of animators on Stage 32 (www.stage32.com/people?name=&location=&roles=Animator).

And you could post an ad on the Job Board (www.stage32.com/find-jobs).

Is this like especulative zoology?

Alex Olguin If you mean speculative zoology as in designing creatures with real-world logic, kind of — but Realmon is a full multimedia IP with battles, evolutions, lore arcs, worldbuilding, and narrative integration. It uses spec-zoology principles, but it isn’t only that.

Hey, Kevin Jackson. The story and scenes. Some scenes would be too expensive/dangerous for a live-action movie. And some things wouldn't be possible in live-action films.

Good response. What might not be possible in live action with today's VFX? I am excluding VFX from animation for the purpose of this discussion. Take for example Pantheon. Could have easily been done live action.

You're right, Kevin Jackson. I meant some things wouldn't be possible in live-action films as in things that couldn't really happen, like in Looney Tunes. I should've put that in my other comment.

Oh, I get you...I had this discussion the other day at the University I teach at. We were listening to students table reads and one script that caught a lot of attention, had concepts in it that just wouldn't make sense in the real world and the writer said it's not supposed to. It's a bizarre world where the rules of the real world don't really happen. So, we advised that they need to show us more stuff that helps us understand that. After saying that I thought to myself, this would make for a perfect adult comedy, because there would be far less burden on the audience's mind to accept the logical rules that were being broken.

My main thing is that it's important my characters look how I described them, and I understand that I can't always have that with live action. As well, I love diving into surrealism fairly often which comes more naturally to animation than it does live action. All this to say that animation allows for so much more creative freedom which is attractive to me.

Maurice Vaughan the business in me, absolutely loves the power move. The Creative in me is worried. I agree, too much power for one company. I guess we'll see what happens over the next 12-18 months as they close out this deal.

Maurice Vaughan I just opened ANOTHER newsletter and they're talking about it too "Nearly 15 years ago to the day, Jeff Bewkes, who was the CEO of Warner Bros. then parent company at the time, shrugged off the rise of an upstart DVD-by-mail service called Netflix. “It’s a little bit like, is the Albanian army going to take over the world?” He said. “I don’t think so. The Bewkes of 2010 would be flabbergasted to learn that Netflix just bought Warner Bros. And the world might be next."

Cyrus Sales I like that Netflix said it expects to maintain the current operations of Warner Bros. “including theatrical releases for films," but I don't like the idea of shorter theatrical release windows.

Feels a bit villainous Cyrus Sales.

I'm just glad I can re-watch GOT on Netflix lol

I see photogrammetry being a must-know tool for big-budget projects, Ashley Renee Smith. Avengers, Star Wars, Spider-Man, etc.

Ashley Renee Smith Thanks for sharing. This is my first time hearing about Photogrammetry. I'll have to find out from our animation team if they are familiar with it.

Great questions Ashley Renee Smith. I’m familiar with Fusion 360 for 3D mechanics, and I’ve seen a lot of people using similar workflows in car and product design for games. Working with it has really helped me create new inventions and think through details more clearly. I honestly think VFX and production companies are going to benefit from tools like this drastically in the future. As pipelines get more integrated, studios and production teams may end up relying on this kind of 3D design more than we expect.

I'm a big fan of Bong Joon Ho's live-action movies, Amanda Toney! I'm excited for his Animation feature film!

Great to see one of my alltime favorite directors explore the possibilities of animation.

Amanda Toney I'm not familiar with Bong Joon Ho. I'm still learning who is who in this industry but I did like where he stated "he would love to create a military squad with a mission to destroy AI," lol. I love it for easing the headache of repetitive task and creating some professional emails aside from that, I would love to see AI take a whole seat from the creative world.

Cyrus Sales Bong Joon Ho is the brilliant mind behind PARASITE, which is my favorite movie of the last decade. If you haven’t seen it, I’d watch it, it’s a masterpiece

Amanda Toney I've heard of it but can't quite remember if I saw it. I'll see where it's streaming and check it out. Thanks for the suggestion!

It is all playing out, and real data will be generated when AI is successfully implemented across the entire production pipeline. I know of two productions that axed several artists, downsizing them to one prompter/fixer for various aspects of the production. I am hearing reports from those in production coordination that AI will also be taking over many entry-level jobs in that area.

This article highlights the "fear" that many studio artists share - https://www.animationmagazine.net/2024/01/animation-guild-co-commissione...

The studios intend for AI to replace as many artists as possible, which is why they made no concessions for artists' protection in the latest Animation Guild negotiations.

It's true there is some people who abuse of AI but I see it as a tool that helps with the things you can't do by yourself, but it's not definitorym it's just a complementary tool, like an assistant.

Joshua Young I really appreciated your perspective on AI in the creative industry. I agree that AI is a tool, not a replacement, and it’s easy to see how companies might push for efficiency at the expense of creative labor.

To Bob's point - I hear you. Studios are testing automation (especially at entry levels), but it generally fails when consistency or edits are needed. Here is why the 'AI Replacement' narrative doesn't match the reality:

It’s mostly budget cuts: The layoffs are largely post-COVID corrections. AI is just a convenient excuse for financial squeezing.

Legal risks are high: Buyers are demanding strict guardrails. With cases like Getty (UK) and Andersen (US) unresolved, no one wants to risk the chain of title on major IP.

The tech falls short: AI struggles with character persistence and multi-shot coherence. It’s great for pitch decks and previs, but not final production.

Artists have valid concerns, but right now, the issue is business management, not technology. So yes, there are experiments, and artists have valid concerns. But most layoffs right now are budget corrections thanks to COVID, not AI replacement. Streamers want more for less, studios are cutting costs, and AI is being used as the explanation even when the real issues are business and rights.

There is no disagreement about the main reason that arts jobs are being lost due to studios scaling back and outsourcing. The alarm is for what is coming down the pike with the advancement of AI in the production pipeline. In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Pixar's Andrew Stanton reveals that jobs will be lost due to AI advancement, but creatives will still be needed.

Outstanding. I follow Aaron on youtube. I think his work is amazing.Thank you for posting.

This was a beautiful animation. 0:58 seconds in and I was already moved. Dustin Richardson couldn't have said it better, the Disney magic that we've been missing for years.

Aaron is an animation dynamo. He is keeping the torch of hand-drawn animation burning!

SNOW BEAR is phenomenal, Laurie Ashbourne! Thanks for sharing the film. It reminds me of 2D animated movies I watched growing up. What stood out most about the film is how Aaron used facial expressions, action, and objects to tell the story.

Watched this on "X". Absolutely incredible work.

Thank you so much for sharing this resource, Kevin Jackson!

Good looking out!

How very gracious and generous of you to share that. Thank you so very much.

Extremely helpful resource, thank you Kevin Jackson

Thanks for sharing James Lagrimas